Introduction of THETA(2) – Issue on Net Neutrality regulation and the solution to this issue, THETA
Hello.
Following the last poster, let me give you a brief description of the THETA and the net neutrality issues that are becoming more and more hot these days. And as the net neutrality issue gets hot, let’s take a look at what the THETA can do to its content providers.
#Net-Neutrality
First, let’s talk about the word “Net Neutrality”.
If you are working in the network industry, you may have heard a lot, but it’s a terminology unfamiliar to people who aren’t involved. Currently, the internet in our country is using the Internet network established by telecommunication companies such as AT&T, COMCAST, SKT, KT, LG. These companies are called ISP(Internet service Provider).
"Net neutrality is the principle that governments should mandate Internet service providers to treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication." – wiki
In plain language, discrimination by AT&T to block Youtube’s content or limit the speed of delivery, or to charge more for Yotube, is a breach of net neutrality. So far, the net neutrality has been well maintained, but recently the controversy over net neutrality has increased. To know why it is controversial, you should first look at the stakeholders of net neutrality.
Stakeholders are roughly divided into three groups: Internet users, Content providers (Youtube, Netflix, Facebook, Africa TV) and Internet Service Provider (AT&T, COMCAST, SKT). As I said earlier, current Internet networks is built by Inter Service Provider. However, most of these internet networks are used by streaming companies such as Youtube, Netflix, Twitch. It’s an inevitable result because video streaming generates a lot of traffic. There is a problem here! Internet service provider wants to chare more money to content providers that take up a lot of network usage.
And the content provider obviously doesn’t want to pay more.
If content providers do not provide content, there will be no reason for people to use the internet and then ISP will not make money. If SKT (ISP) blocks Youtube’s videos, do people choose not to watch Youtube, or transfer SKT to LG or KT (another IPS)? Of course, people will transfer to LG or KT.
So far public opinion has taken the hands of content providers, but in recent years, the net neutrality has been tilted toward the abolition.
- In the United States, network neutrality was abolished on December 14, 2017.
As a result, Content Providers that need a lot of video data such as Netflix, Google, and Facebook, will have to pay more money than before. What if they do not want to pay more? They need to build their own Internet network like ISP or reduce traffic. It is difficult and costly to build their own internet network unless they are a big company like Google. So how do you get less money by reducing traffic?
#THETA
The advantages of THETA are highlighted here. The protocol of THETA is peer-to-peer oriented. Viewers receive video stream from the nearest cache node without receiving video stream from the server. I’ll explain it easily through pictures. First, the traditional way is shown below.
Video stream will be sent through many gateways until the data is transmitted from the server to my mobile phone. It generates a lot of traffic. In the picture above, the video stream crosses six bridges until the viewer receives the video data.
Below is a scenario of THETA.
Theta is similar to a torrent, viewers not only plays the role of receiving video data but also acts as a cache node that transmits video to other people. That is, without receiving a video frame from the server, I can get it from a nearest cache node which have a video frame if someone has already seen the video I want to watch.
If you follow the above scenario, you will only cross two bridges until viewer get the video frame.
In the course of delivering the video, you will go through 6 bridges in the conventional way and 2 bridges in the THETA protocol. In other words, when you use THETA protocol, traffic is reduced. This will allow streaming companies to find way to pay less. In fact, the calculations are more complex, but theta team expect to see traffic reductions of about 60% to 80%.
In other words, the existing streaming companies such as Youtube, Netflix have to pay more money to the ISP such as AT&T, SKT along with the server expansion fee as the number of users increases and the video quality increases, if they create an DAPP using the THETA protocol, they can solve this problem.
If you think about the years after the VR video becomes active, there is a lot of problems in the conventional way. Because the capacity of VR video is much bigger than that of existing video, there are many difficulties to introduce VR streaming. For these problems, THETA offers a clear solution.
#FINISH
THETA recently announced collaboration with Samsung VR. Samsung is also worried about VR streaming issues and seems to have chosen THETA as a solution. Maybe THETA's first DAPP will be Samsung VR. It would be nice if THETA would slowly build up its position as a platform for the streaming industry by bringing along the contents providers (YouTube, Netflix, Twitch..).
For more information about theta, see the page below.
Theta official website: https://www.thetatoken.org/
Previous Theta introduction (1): https://steemit.com/theta/@minebuu/introduction-of-theta-1-future-of-the-video-streaming-industry-to-learn-through-theta