Post AolnVO8lGXGFDPIUE4 by bovaz@mastodon.online
(DIR) More posts by bovaz@mastodon.online
(DIR) Post #Aoln9JPm9eR2BjjFBI by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-06T13:09:55Z
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I worry the cellular providers in the US may throttle apps that aren’t big players. Even ‘unlimited’ data plans still have throttling in major cities. But I often wonder if there is differential treatment for Facebook vs. other stuff? or am I paranoid? It never seems like I get a slow connection when they want to send me a video ad in a major app— but, images in smaller apps initially load quickly (but after what feels like a cap is reached) they slow. Is this basically the net neutrality issue?
(DIR) Post #AolnMDUNUvSjZg2DQG by mcc@mastodon.social
2024-12-06T13:12:11Z
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@futurebird This is the net neutrality issue. I would say it is not paranoid to wonder about it. Other entirely hypothetical explanations for same data:- Facebook almost certainly has a better CDN than smaller sites.- Some providers may attempt to throttle video while passing non-video undisturbed. But everything's encrypted now. They may be able to identify YouTube/Tiktok traffic as video but not Facebook.
(DIR) Post #AolnPQDEeGzZu8XppY by majorlinux@toot.majorshouse.com
2024-12-06T13:12:45Z
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@futurebird It's absolutely a thing.This goes against net neutrality which stipulates that every bit should be treated equally.Under the Trump administration, ISPs are expected to introduce things like fast lanes that will prioritize companies who are willing to pay for faster or more access while smaller entities may experience degraded service.
(DIR) Post #AolnVO8lGXGFDPIUE4 by bovaz@mastodon.online
2024-12-06T13:13:53Z
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@futurebird I remember a time when this was actually sold as a feature. When Pokemon Go first came out, some providers made plans for it that would prioritize its traffic, as well as "count" it separately for accounting/payments.
(DIR) Post #AolntCvib5R3OfYQSG by silvermoon82@wandering.shop
2024-12-06T13:18:02Z
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@futurebird I don't know if it's currently happening, but there have been "Facebook phone plans" and the like, which include unlimited Facebook access but not the wider Internet.
(DIR) Post #AoloCs4NrffwUXz3hY by promovicz@chaos.social
2024-12-06T13:21:44Z
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@futurebird Mobile carriers have always messed around with traffic, especially for marketing reasons. In some sense, marketing (including their own) is their main business. Infrastructure and services come second and third.
(DIR) Post #AolosmYgkHbPYs8wd6 by MedeaVanamonde@chaosfem.tw
2024-12-06T13:29:19Z
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@futurebird are you totally on your phone’s broadband ? All Meta Products especially FaceBook are phone resource hogs.Have you ever noticed your phone getting hot when you have facebook running in the background?
(DIR) Post #AolpCX3s4ZpDI298AS by mcc@mastodon.social
2024-12-06T13:15:40Z
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@futurebird Also consider:- What you're describing would be unusually easy to detect with consumer hardware. You could easily write an android app that attempts sustained connections to various endpoints and checks for unusual transfer rate trends. That implies if it were happening, they'd get "caught"- However the current information ecosystem is such if a cell provider got "caught" it would result in an angry blogpost with 33 hits and 2 comments, and probs neither of us would know about it
(DIR) Post #AolpCY6OChQwW8KejQ by skyfaller@jawns.club
2024-12-06T13:23:20Z
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@mcc @futurebird I'm pretty sure you just described OONI Probe: https://ooni.org/You can run it on your phone and it tries to smell censorship by attempting to reach various websites and services, checking for availability and slowdowns. Obviously be careful if you're in a place where simply visiting a website about e.g. trans people could get you in trouble.
(DIR) Post #AolpLdy3lTtDJcly3E by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-12-06T13:34:33Z
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@skyfaller @mcc This sounds fascinating!
(DIR) Post #AolrcNuutUDCMmPfcm by rlstone4dems@mastodon.social
2024-12-06T13:59:58Z
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@futurebird You’re not paranoid, myrmepropagandist. If anything I’m a little now after reading your post, LOL.
(DIR) Post #Aolv570v7OMkCcbwn2 by paulc@mstdn.social
2024-12-06T14:38:47Z
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@futurebird You are not insane. Certain categories of apps need prioritization, such as voice apps, since latency and speed are issues in performance. But these are technical issues. We never want prioritization to be done for marketing reasons.