Telcos pressure Facebook, Google, Twitter over content

Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees want Facebook, Twitter and Google to take more responsibility for content posted on their sites. The leaders of New Zealand's three big largest telcos spelled out their concerns in a joint letter delivered this week to the social media giants.

The letter is signed by Spark managing director Simon Moutter, Vodafone NZ chief executive Jason Paris and 2degrees chief executive Steward Sherriff.

They acted after all three social networks streamed disturbing live online video footage taken by the Christchurch terrorist last Friday. Each of the social media networks continued to show footage for hours after the attack.

Speed is important

The letter says: "Although we recognise the speed with which social network companies sought to remove Friday's video once they were made aware of it, this was still a response to material that was rapidly spreading globally and should never have been made available online.”

It goes on to call for balance: “We must find the right balance between internet freedom and the need to protect New Zealanders, especially the young and vulnerable, from harmful content.

"Social media companies and hosting platforms that enable the sharing of user generated content with the public have a legal duty of care to protect their users and wider society by preventing the uploading and sharing of content such as this video.”

They recommend following proposals made by the European Union. This includes taking down materials within a specific time, implementing measure to stop people from uploading similar videos and fining companies that fail to take appropriate action.

Google launches Stadia, Netflix for gamers

Google has entered the video games market with Stadia, a cloud-powered streaming service that delivers games to any screen. It works with phones, tablets, computers and TVs. It means you no longer need a box to play. There is a Stadia controller, but you can also use existing controllers.

Google has not yet mentioned prices and says Stadia will initially only be available in the US, Canada and parts of Europe.

Earlier game streaming services have suffered with latency problems, Google says its worldwide infrastructure will cure that.

Poor networks can mean poor gaming experience

However critics have pointed out that no amount of Google infrastructure can overcome poor local networks. Also, many telcos and ISPs may struggle to deal with the flood of traffic that could come if Stadia takes off.

A report in CommsDay says each user is likely to consume between 15 and 25Mbps of bandwidth which means carriers will face loads much larger than they see from Netflix and other streaming TV services.

It quotes analyst Rudolf van der Berg who says mobile networks "would likely buckle" under the load if every user gets 25Mbps. He says even 5G will struggle as it is not designed for 10 to 40 people per cell all using 25Mbps sustained.

Spark Sport debuts without incident

Spark breathed a sigh of relief after the opening weekend of the company’s sports streaming passed without outages. The company streamed coverage of the Australian Grand Prix. Spark Sport says 9000 customers have signed for the service with only a handful reporting playback problems on some devices.

The service is still operating as a beta. This means Spark Sport's technical team is continuing to tweak and update the apps. It says it will soon add more features.

Network for Learning appoints of Colin MacDonald as chair

Network for Learning, the government-owned educational managed network provider has appointed former Department of Internal Affairs chief executive Colin MacDonald as its new chair. MacDonald was also previously the government's chief digital officer.