Internet Inequality

All things being equal, they aren't... where media rights and internet access are concerned.

Our expectations of the highly interconnected world with ubiquitous internet access providing higher speeds and bandwidth than ever before falls short when old media industries are afraid and controlling.  I am all for businesses protecting their product and making money through ads, sales, and licensing agreements.  That is the only way they can/will make new content we will enjoy.

Living in the US has many privileges and services that much of the rest of the world does not get to experience.

- I loved Netflix and playing content through my Roku device directly to my TV.  It was a very convenient way to pick movies to watch any time, even movies I had sitting in the DVD player already.  Other video services, like Hulu, Crackle, and Amazon video are also available to watch content on a whim.

- Online audio streaming services, like Pandora, let you create your own radio station to listen to and discover a wide range of music without owning it.

- Favorite shows could be watched on the network's web site or other video services, allowing you to catch up on episodes you missed or when you learn about a new show several episodes into the series/season.

Living in Poland has given me a greater appreciation for what I no longer have available to me.

• I used to listen to Pandora at work, at home, on my phone anywhere.
• I watched Netflix on my computer, on my phone, and on my TV.
• I watched "Big Bang Theory" on CBS's website.

... entertainment anytime, anyplace, and any type... "The Future is HERE!" (not!).

I access Pandora and get a message saying "We can only play content to users in the US".  I now can watch Netflix tell me "Sorry, you are accessing from a country that we are not licensed to play".  I try to watch CBS shows and they reject my loyalty.

I pay for Netflix.  It's not like I am trying to access a service with ads supporting it that cannot have meaning to me (which is the case for Pandora).  I tried Amazon's video service, ready to rent or buy episodes and movies... to pay USD on a US bank card, but it needs to be delivered to an IP address in Poland.

Steve Jobs and Apple Computer changed the music industry with iTunes music store and $0.99 individual songs because the rationalization that people were stealing the music by ripping it to MP3 audio files and the music industry got nothing, so they might as well sell the music on iTunes and get something.

The world's internet has created many alternate solutions to get this content, sometimes not legally.  Just like ripped CDs years ago leading to MP3 players holding 1000s of songs... people will find ways to enjoy their entertainment in ways they want to consume across devices regardless of the industry restrictions.

Region encoding has been introduced on disk media to prevent people from watching a movie (on disk) in a country it was not sold... really?  I can buy a disk in Europe and not watch it in the US?

Fortunately, my team in Poland is a group of bright and resourceful techno-geeks and know how to make the internet work for them in Poland.

For streaming music, I now use Grooveshark.com... even better than Pandora in that I can create my own play lists along with random songs.  I have not found a Netflix replacement yet (at least not one that appears legal), but I am sure something exists.

Ironically, Grooveshark is not available in Germany because of licensing restrictions... so it is not perfect, but it works for me.

I can rip movies and music from the media I own (not always legally, thanks to the US Government's restrictive laws) to play on different devices.  I can use VPN and proxy systems to bypass these restrictions.  I know how these restrictions work and how to circumvent them, but I should not need to do this, nor should others who are not as technically trained.

Give me Internet Equality.  Or give me services I pay to use.  It's a simple request, I think.