AdaptiveMobile Blogs

23rd April 2008    Current rating: 

As TechRepublic's Bill Detwiler reported earlier this month at CTIA, there has been a lot of talk about "open networks," recently, especially among the wireless carrier community. There seemed to be a fine line of carriers pushing for less government involvement while embracing openness, prompting the FCC to respond by saying they were merely observing the developments for now.

So what does this mean for the everyday consumer? Freedom*! (*Within reason, of course… At the same time they announced their openness, carriers also made it clear they'd be opening up at their own pace.)

As exciting as all of this is, it's no different than any other area of communication that receives flexibility- there will always be individuals who wish to exploit these freedoms and prey upon any vulnerability they can find. As Thomas Claburn states, "Where there's a mass market, cybercriminals are sure to follow."

That means carriers need to further ensure their subscribers are protected from malware and other attacks at their level- not at the device level.

It also means that consumers need to pay further attention to what they are downloading to their devices, as well as how they are accessing content. People love personalization, but everyone needs to remember it comes with a cost. Content and airtime on other networks beyond what consumers are subscribing to are bound to come with added fees.

All in all, open networks can mean exciting new directions for developers and consumers on all levels. But everyone has to remember one rule of thumb- for every added freedom, there is a backend cost. Consumers need to be alert to the true nature of "open networks," as it can very easily stand for "open access" to their devices and "open charging" for the services they wish to use.

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