What the Market Will Bear:
Cisco's Vision for Broadband Internet

There is little doubt that online service will continue to improve in the coming years--as connection speeds increase, as audio and video offerings expand, and as new cable broadband networks bring many more Americans into the Digital Age. But there will be a price to pay for such improved service, a price beyond that of monthly access fees or pay-per-view charges. For the very same technology that will guarantee full-motion video and interactive programming will also usher in a new era of controlled, monitored, and differentiated Internet service, with implications for producers and consumers alike.

Online traffic control is an inevitable by-product of the increasing popularity of the Internet, of course, especially as high-bandwidth multimedia content becomes more common. If a network is to operate efficiently, it must have some means of distinguishing between data that are time-critical (e.g., voice or video) and those that are not (e.g., e-mail or Web content).1 Given the growing popularity of streaming audio and video, moreover, there are instances in which mediation between competing claims for bandwidth becomes necessary, and experiments are already underway to determine the most effective means of keeping traffic flowing smoothly.2 At some point efficiency and economy give way to manipulation and exploitation, however, and that is the danger that the new network architecture poses.

Cisco Systems, one of the leading suppliers of both hardware and software for network operators, provided a glimpse of the new "architecture of control" in a recent series of unusually frank "white papers," a forecast that should give pause to those who eagerly await the deployment of the new cable broadband networks. Stated simply, the increase in online efficiency that these networks provide will be offset by a marked decrease in online democracy. Using Cisco's technology, network operators for the first time will be able to "direct traffic" on the Internet, distinguishing among different content types, origins, and destinations, for example, in order to grant fast passage to some packets while relegating others to slower lanes. In the process, what was once a comparatively level playing field--a public Internet in which all bits are created equal--will be tilted in favor of distinctly private interests.

This new online aristocracy will assume a number of guises, including Cisco's "New World" network, in which "Quality of Service" (QoS) becomes the euphemism for "membership has its privileges." As Cisco's documents reveal, "The control and visibility provided by QoS enables Internet service providers to offer carefully tailored grades of service differentiation to their customers."3 By identifying not only specific data packet types (e.g., Web, e-mail, video, or voice) but also their origin and/or destination, and by assigning priority based on the network operator's own criteria, the flow of traffic will conform to a particular network's pricing scheme. This new level of control, Cisco assures its clients, is what separates its carefully monitored system from the open-ended, even-handed Internet: "The ability to prioritize and control traffic levels is a distinguishing factor and critical difference between New World networks employing Internet technologies and 'the Internet.'"4 And the real point of that distinction, Cisco is quick to add, is that the "new, advanced QoS techniques" give network operators "the means to maximize revenue generated through bandwidth capacity by providing the highest quality for your most valuable services." The same kind of "personalization" that is driving online marketing, in other words, will also drive the new networks, as cable ISPs, armed with Cisco's technology, will be able to "deal with each subscriber as an individual entity, assigning access authorizations, bandwidth allocations, and security filters for each address."

The impact of such technology is twofold. First, network operators, possessing much more knowledge of their users' needs and interests (and their ability to pay for services related to those needs and interests), will be able to exploit that market accordingly. "QoS can ... propel you forward by giving you the information you need to offer advanced differentiated services at a profit...," Cisco explains. "With QoS, you can optimize service profits by marketing 'express' services to premium customers ready to pay for superior network performance." Second, these operators will have new means to thwart competition by distinguishing between affiliated and unaffiliated online programming: "The controlled-access rate capabilities ... allow you to specify the user access speed of any given packet by allocating the bandwidth it receives.... You could restrict the incoming ... broadcasts as well as subscribers' outgoing access to ... [a competitive] site to discourage its use. At the same time, you could promote and offer your own or partner's services with full-speed features to encourage adoption of your services, while increasing network efficiency."

Cisco is nothing if not candid in its appraisal of the new broadband cable landscape, and the underlying message seems obvious: let the browser beware. "One way to achieve high revenue per subscriber," Cisco declares, in perhaps the clearest expression of its strategy, "is by segmenting the market and charging what the market will bear within each market segment. It is not enough, however, for marketing to devise different service offerings. The network must be capable of supporting these offerings through meaningful policing and enforcement mechanisms."5 Coupled with the current FCC policy that grants cable operators a monopoly in broadband Internet service, such "policing and enforcement mechanisms" are more than mere corporate PR. They represent a real threat to the future openness of the Internet.

We've long been accustomed, certainly, to distinctions in the way we access various means of transport. The fortunate few fly first class, drive expensive automobiles, watch wall-sized TVs, and receive their mail and phone calls at vast estates. The rest of us travel and communicate much more modestly. And yet the underlying architecture of all of these systems is more or less democratic. Those who fly coach and drive second-hand cars arrive at their destinations at pretty much the same time as their well-heeled counterparts, and broadcast, mail, and telephone service work pretty much the same for everybody. Until now, the Internet has shared that basic egalitarian outlook (once the initial barriers to access have been scaled, that is), and its potential to serve democracy in entirely new ways-providing a platform for expression and a means for civic participation to those who have traditionally lacked such tools-is vast. But all of that is threatened by the new network technology that Cisco and others are introducing, and that AT&T and others will be able to deploy, under current regulations, in a closed, competition-free environment. With its emphasis on traffic control and the maximization of profits, the new broadband architecture will alter the fundamental nature of the Internet for millions of Americans. What Cisco holds out as a real promise to its customers--"higher subscription fees, increased advertising, and percentage of commercial transactions"--should be seen as a real threat to the rest of us--and to the future of online communications. And that's simply too high a price to pay for a faster, flashier, more colorful Internet.

1 For a discussion of the future of differentiated service (or "DiffServ," in Netspeak), see Brian E. Carpenter and Dilip D. Kandlur, "Diversifying Internet Delivery," IEEE Spectrum, Nov. 1999, 57-61.

2 The most pressing matter at the moment involves streaming-media data that does not conform to the existing transmission control protocol (TCP). Proposed solutions range from routing such traffic around the Internet's main arteries, to various data queuing mechanisms, to charging more for extra bandwidth. See Sara Robinson, "Multimedia Transmissions Drive Net Toward Gridlock," New York Times, 23 Aug. 1999.

3 Cisco Systems, "Quality of Service (QoS) Networking," available online (here).

4 Cisco Systems, "Controlling Your Network-A Must for Cable Operators," 1999. Unless otherwise noted, the statements attributed to Cisco are from this document. For a more detailed, technical discussion of Cisco's hardware and software, see Cisco Systems, "New Revenue Opportunities for Cable Operators from Streaming-Media Technology," 1999; Cisco Systems, "Quality of Service in Cable Data Networks," available online (here); and Keith Travis, "IP-ATM CoS: Providing Differential Class-Based IP Services on ATM Fabrics," available online (here).

5 Cisco Systems, "Cable for a New World: A Cable Provider's Guide to Digital Broadband Deployment," n.d.