Now That It’s in the Broadband Game, Google Flip-Flops on Network Neutrality (Wired)

Posted Jul 31, 2013 11:58 UTC (Wed) by khim (subscriber, #9252)
In reply to: Now That It’s in the Broadband Game, Google Flip-Flops on Network Neutrality (Wired) by pizza
Parent article: Now That It’s in the Broadband Game, Google Flip-Flops on Network Neutrality (Wired)

Something as simple as hosting a blog (even with externally-served ads) is considered commercial purposes.

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Even simple blog can lead to complains.

So is hosting a portfolio site for your artwork.

That's basically a landmine.

So is backing up your office stuff to a "server" at home.

That one is probably fine.

So is hosting a web page with a "donate money via paypal" link on it.

Definitely a problem.

As was already explained above they are not trying to save bandwidth (they have tons of bandwidth). They want to avoid complains. As long as your service is not falling in category which can lead to complains to ISP - it's not server as far as Google is concerned.

That's why there will never be a clarification in TOS: what is "server" and what is not "server" lawmakers of your jurisdiction are deciding, not Google.

Now That It’s in the Broadband Game, Google Flip-Flops on Network Neutrality (Wired)

Posted Jul 31, 2013 13:37 UTC (Wed) by pizza (subscriber, #46) [Link] (1 responses)

>As was already explained above they are not trying to save bandwidth (they have tons of bandwidth). They want to avoid complains. As long as your service is not falling in category which can lead to complains to ISP - it's not server as far as Google is concerned.

That may be their intention, but it's certainly not what is written. :)

Unfortunately Google doesn't have any concrete plans for a "business-class" offering, so if you want (or need) to run a server of any sort, Google Fiber is simply not an option. Nobody is going to risk their business/livelihood by relying on their ISP to not enforce the ToS.

...I'm currently paying Comcast for a "business" connection. They charge me about double their residential rate, but it doesn't cost *them* any more to provide the basic pipe. They do bundle some value-add stuff (five email accounts instead of one, hosted on exchange, and a free antivirus license, big whoop) and they have a much better support staffing ratio.

But at the end of the day, I'm paying them double so I can have an unfiltered static IP.

Now That It’s in the Broadband Game, Google Flip-Flops on Network Neutrality (Wired)

Posted Jul 31, 2013 15:23 UTC (Wed) by raven667 (subscriber, #5198) [Link]

The fact that the ISP pays for anti-virus software to give away to subscribers should be evidence that their real concern is as stated by khim, they want to reduce complaints about traffic from their subscribers.