More on Comcast

[Rich Braun]

Joe <josephc at etards.net> wrote:
> I see wireless piracy as not anything to be to concerned about.

Clarification of my earlier comment:  the risk to broadband suppliers comes in
the form of a Napster-like attitude change among teenagers who, as they grow
up and form households, seek to avoid paying usurious fees.

At least in dense urban settings, it's easy to form a communal group of buyers
who share a single cable-modem across several households.  In a place like
Somerville where you can often find 50 or so apartments within range of a
single antenna (and where the democraphics of 20-something individuals is
high), wi-fi piracy could in fact be a major concern to Verizon or Comcast. 
In a place like Lincoln, it wouldn't be.

Cable TV companies are set up to audit theft of cable service.  They are
stumped by wi-fi.  If enough people gang up on them and vote no to $50 service
with their pocketbooks, and the ISP doesn't respond by offering a $25 service,
something is going to have to give.  If they come up with a way to stamp out
wi-fi theft, then some other technology could be adapted.  The collision
course is pretty clear today, though.

-rich