A little technical aside: all data, whether email, websites, video, or whatever, looks the same to the software framework of the internet. It’s all just bits of information. Logically, if you send or receive more bits over the internet you should pay more. If you only use a little, your bill is low, use a lot and your bill is high. Simple, right? The companies that make money controlling the internet have a different idea. They want to know what you like to do on the internet most If you’re also a geek, I am aware that I’ve glossed over a lot of really scintillating details about the net neutrality struggle. Sue me, or read Michael Geist<\/a>. The other interesting thing about traffic shaping, to continue, is that it’s difficult to do. It takes a lot of computing power to inspect every bit of data passing through a router, and general purpose routers aren’t really made for that kind of thing. Trying to traffic shape a small private network with incurring costs in dollars or performance is challenging. I wasn’t optimistic that there was a solution for Wes, but thought it worth a look to see if the hardware vendor had built the capability into the router.<\/p>\n I had a couple of hours to investigate while the kids worked off excess energy in the pool. In the end, I found a QoS script written by some clever fellow that did a sort of coarse simulated traffic shaping. It would need to be installed and set to run on the router, but with my schedule I couldn’t offer to do it for Wes. He was still appreciative though, and insisted on some sort of compensation. I declined energetically, but in the end we settled on ice cream for the family, on the house. He also offered me a job if I wanted to come live at Campland next summer. Maybe I’ll do that instead of clerking at some law firm. I love Saskatoon.<\/p>\n To celebrate, we treated ourselves to a movie in Saskatoon. We went to see an early evening show of Minions<\/a>, with a crowd of other little people. I am normally indifferent to kids’ movies, but I let it go and just rode the wave of goofiness. We all thought it was a riot. You should see it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The kids paddled in the Campland pool after we got back from the Canadian Tire debacle, while I tried to catch up on my blogging. Sorry about that, by the way. Writing requires\u00a0coordinating\u00a0access to the net, with electricity to power my gadgets, and time off from entertaining\/caring for Those Johnston Kids. I usually post when … Continue reading Minions<\/span> pr0n<\/del>, and charge you more for that kind of data. To figure out what you’re doing, they do something that the basic internet protocols were specifically designed not to do: they look at the individual packets of data to see what kind of data it is. The telecoms can then slow down data they don’t like, a competitor’s video service, for example, or speed up data they do like, such as their own video service. This kind of inspection and manipulation of data is called traffic shaping, and is antithetical to the principles that underlie the architecture of the internet. It has been a back and forth battle between telecoms and regulators to keep all\u00a0data on the internet equal and neutral. You are, unless you work for a telecom or believe conservative alarmism, in favour of net neutrality.<\/p>\n![\"2015-07-11\"](\"http:\/\/thosejohnstonkids.ca\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/2015-07-11-225x300.jpg\")
<\/a>It was Saturday afternoon, the 11th of July and we were sitting in the Campland RV park, trying to make up our razoodocks about what to do with the evening, when Short Pants said “Look Papa, my tooth is loose,” and waggled the tusk in question at me. I reached in, pulled it out, and showed it to him. “This one?” And that was how Short Pants lost his first tooth.<\/p>\n