I’ve been thinking about the lack of consumer rights in regards to cell phones. As it is right now, the communications companies have an unfair advantage over consumers. They all basically play by the same rules, so it doesn’t matter which carrier you use. When an industry fails to correct itself, then the government should step in. I do believe in minimal government interference, but consumers must be protected against cartels and unfair practices.
Most cell phones are so much more than simply a wireless phone. They’re small computers with a wide array of functions. At least, they would have a lot of functions if cellular providers didn’t cripple them with proprietary software. You should be able to freely interface your phone with a computer. This would be useful to backup your contacts, transfer your contacts to a new device and upload or download pictures and videos. You could also upload custom ringtones to your phone. Cell providers don’t want that because they charge you for those services. Verizon charges $1.99 a month for “Backup Assistant”, which saves your contacts on their server and allows you to transfer them back to your phone I’m not sure how much it costs for ringtones because you can only view the cost through the Verizon’s “Get It Now” service, which I refuse to use. The last time I bought a ringtone I believe it cost $4.95. Those two functions, contact backup and custom ringtones, can be done at home with a computer very easily. Why should you pay the provider to use a function built into your phone?
I think cell phones should not be allowed to be sold with the firmware and network locked. If you don’t like your provider, you should be able to take your phone to another company and get access to their network by installing a different SIM card. The government did some good in 2004 when it required cell phone companies to allow consumers to take their phone numbers with them when they switch providers, but that isn’t enough. I had high hopes for the iPhone, but it were undeserved. I thought Apple would’ve been the company to break the trend where phones are tied to specific networks. That of course didn’t happen and if you want to use an iPhone you will be an AT&T customer. You have no choice. According to the contract between Apple and AT&T, only AT&T is allowed to support the iPhone for 5 years. Your cell phone and which provider you use should be completely separate and independent purchases. You should be able to walk into a Verizon Wireless store, buy a phone and then walk down the street US Cellular and have that phone connected to their network without any hassles. Imagine if you bought a brand new laptop, but that laptop could only connect to the internet through AOL. That is basically what cell phone providers have been getting away with.
Cell phone providers do not need these limits on devices to stay in business. In the first quarter of 2005 Verizon Wireless produced $7.4 billion in revenue. Providers are living high on the hog by charging customers for functions that these phones were built to do. You don’t have to pay Microsoft to get a new desktop image or backup your files. You don’t even have to keep Windows on the computer. You can’t switch your software on your phone however. Forcing consumers to pay to access functions the phone is capable of is a marketing model called “value-added content provider”. Of course the consumers don’t see the value.
I think the only reason these practices are allowed to continue is because it is costly to force the providers to change. You have two options. You can try to get the government to pass laws forcing them to change. That would be virtually impossible because providers would spend millions of dollars on lobbyists to fight the bills and would bride lawmakers with legal and illegal campaign contributions. The other option would be to bring a class action lawsuit against the providers. They would spend millions on lawyers to first keep it out of court and if it ever makes it to court, they’ll spend millions more ensuring the process is costly and slow in the hopes that the case is withdrawn or dismissed. It would most likely be withdrawn because it is doubtful anyone would be able to support the costs necessary to win the case. The only hope consumers have is the extremely outside chance that FCC takes action and requires changes. Of course, that change could be short lived because the industry would immediately lobby and bribe Congress to pass a bill protecting their current marketing model.
Basically cell phone consumers are screwed. All legal methods are futile. The only option left is to violate the phone warranties and wireless contracts by using hacking software to unlock our phones.
Filed under: Technology — Steven A. Stehling @ 0:59
Sometimes it’s good to be well behind the technology curve. Take webcasting for instance. I haven’t paid much attention to YouTube for about a year. In that time it evolved from a website where you could find a bunch of funny or interesting video clips into a mind numbing soap opera. You have all of these people that make various videos and most are nothing more than video journals. This leads to someone responding to their video, which YouTube encourages by having the equivalent of blog trackbacks on the videos page. The response is typically devoid of anything other than insults. The inevitable result is someone will respond to the response and the drama is born.
It gets worse though. Some of these people really start to believe that they are celebrities. This is best demonstrated by a special idiot that put out a video 9 months ago begging everyone to leave Britney Spears alone. The video was pretty funny actually in a pathetic kind of way. It’s amazing that anyone would get so emotional defending Britney. Apparently this kid doesn’t understand that Britney’s current situation is a product of her own choices. She has plenty of money. If she actually cared about herself and her kids the media wouldn’t have much of a story. She can pay people to ensure her kids are well taken care of. She can pay someone to driver her around. She can hire professionals to help her deal with her drug problems. She can stop putting on a show for the media. The simple truth is she wants to be in the spotlight. I have no doubt that she places her entire self worth on the amount of media attention she gets, positive or negative. This kid has the same problem. Since the video was funny, a lot of people watched it and shared it with others. This kid did not understand that watching the video doesn’t mean they support the message or relate to the messenger. Since the crying video the kid has put out many other videos talking about internet fame, which means pretty much nothing. Being famous on the internet usually means most everyone in the real world has never heard about you and neither has 99% of the people on the internet. You’re the distraction of the moment. The world has ADD and everyone will be clicking to the next webpage in a few seconds. The world is moving at a faster pace. You used to get 15 minutes of fame. You now have 15 seconds. I squandered mine on Junior Mints.
It gets worse still. Some of these video drama queens have figured about that people are stupid. So how do you exploit stupid people? You take their money. Normally this involves an elaborate or ingenious scam. These jokers weren’t smart enough for that. They’re simply begging for money. That’s right. Someone that has enough resources to record a video and put it on the internet is begging. If it was something they truly needed, then perhaps they should cancel their internet subscription for awhile or sell their camera. They could even sell their computer. They could also get a part-time job, assuming they have at least one marketable skill. At a bare minimum they could sell plasma. Of course they aren’t begging for anything they really need. One guy is begging for others to pay for his trip to go see his family. Another wants to buy a new camera. The most pathetic guy is an idiot that feels he is entitled to some compensation for entertaining people for such a long time and he needs money to impress a girl. Here’s a hint, if you want to get paid for your creative works, don’t post it on a website that is specifically designed to provide free entertainment to users.
I wish I could concentrate really hard and send myself back in time. I’d warn myself and I wouldn’t have wasted time watching drama videos on YouTube. You can go ahead and look on YouTube for these videos, but you’ll only waste a portion of your life like I did. I think ultimately YouTube is doomed unless they make some drastic changes. I’m sure it could continue to strive in its current form for many more years, but do they want to be the internet equivalent of daytime television? They only way to bring up the quality of content is to be more restrictive. Boundaries can hurt, but sometimes they help. I think a great example is Atom Films. I think talented artists will abandon YouTube and will migrate to more restrictive, yet more artistically innovative communities.
Post Script
Some may ask why someone that writes a blog would criticize anyone that makes a video journal. First of all, because I can and I felt like it. Also I feel that a video journal is pretentious and a waste of bandwidth and other resources. I believe that people tend to think more about an idea if they write it down. If you watch the journals on YouTube you can tell that they are saying whatever comes to mind. If you want to put your ideas out to the world, write them down and post them on the internet. If your ideas suck, then you’ve wasted only a small amount of bandwidth.
From an artistic point of view I don’t like the “walking and talking” gimmick that some of the videos employ. Are you so important that you couldn’t sit down and had to film your video while you were walking somewhere? If the surroundings had something to do with the commentary, then I’d let it slide. If you’re just ranting about what some other YouTube user said about you or one of your online buddies, then just sit down on your couch like you normally do and stare into your camera. Then again, it’s doubtful that more than a fraction of a percent of the YouTube users have any film skills or knowledge.
The Against Me! show last night at the Majestic was pretty good. But please, if at all possible, avoid World/Inferno Friendship Society. They were one of the openning acts. The lead singer looked and acted like a hipster in a slim fitted gray suit and the accordion player looked like a certain Italian plumber. The rest of the fairly large group was a little less distinct. They had two drummers, but one of them only had some bells and a snare drum. Annoyingly the lead singer thinks of himself as exceptionally witty. I guess some people respond well to him. Their website has a developed example of his disorder. They call it a band history, but it’s a stupid short story. I planned on getting to the show around 8pm, specifically to avoid the the opening act. I ended up getting there a good half hour after 8 and still caught at least 4 of their songs. I don’t know if they had a long set or got started late, but doors opened at 6:30. I need to learn to show up later to avoid these type of bands.
The next artist, Sage Francis, was good though. I knew he would be. I first heard his work on the Punk-O-Rama Volume 8 compilation. He’s was up on stage just having fun, cracking jokes and throwing his shoes. This morning Emma said to me that its funny that I like his music because he’s a communist. I don’t know if he’s a communist. He does believe in the importance of doing business with firms that meet certain expectations in regards to workers pay, rights and other issues. There’s nothing wrong with that. I wish more people paid attention to who they give money to. If people would make an effort to buy American products we could turn around the trade deficit and put an end to the decline of the dollar. Anyways, Sage setup a website that lists information about various companies, Knowmore.org (it doesn’t appear to be working at the moment, but it could just be me, I can’t get Google to come up either).
Emma didn’t stick around for the headliner. She had to work at 7 this morning and was tired because she didn’t get enough rest on her five holiday in Minnesota. I wasn’t going to miss the show though, so I called her a cab. The entire time I was at the show I kept glancing at the security staff periodically. After working as security at the Majestic, it feels strange to be at a show there. Anyways, it was a good set. I really needed a good punk show. I was starting to feel disconnected in some ways.
Even though I hate the first band, I’m going to talk about them again. The lead singer kept talking about anarchy during his speeches between songs. I don’t think this guy as a grasp for what anarchy really is. If we had anarchy, he would not be in a band this morning. I would’ve taken of that. Under anarchy, I’d take care of me and mine. In my spare time I’d remove the annoyances. He’s an annoyance. I’m tired of stupid little idiots that think punk and anarchy are one in the same. Anarchy is bullshit. If you want to be mad at society and government, fine, but don’t think removing them will fix your problems. If those morons had to rely solely on their own physical strength and wits, they’d be dead by dawn.
