Stanford law professor tells the FCC that T-Mobile's Binge On is illegal

In comparing Binge On with T-Mobile's similar feature for music streamers called Music Freedom, van Schewick says that some smaller content providers waited as long as 18 months to be included in the service, while others never heard from the carrier.
T-Mobile says that its subscribers can disable Binge On, and has made it easier to do so. To show how popular the feature has become, it pointed out yesterday that 34 petabytes (approximately 34,000 terrabytes) of video have been streamed for free by the mobile operator's customers.
The professor also wrote the FCC over what she says is deceptive advertising on T-Mobile's part. She says that Binge On is not really unlimited since users can't use it if they go over their data cap by other means. She wrote the FCC that "T-Mobile's advertising misleads customers and likely violates the FCC's transparency rule." Just the other day, we told you how a consumer advocacy group has filed a complaint with the FCC over T-Mobile's advertising.
T-Mobile says that it does not intend to become a gatekeeper on the Internet: It says Binge On is open to all legal video streaming providers at no cost, as long as they can meet some “simple technical requirements.” The idea is that any discriminatory effects of Binge On disappear as more providers join the program. However, the technical requirements published on T-Mobile’s website are substantial. They categorically exclude providers that use the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), making it impossible for innovative providers such as YouTube to join. They discriminate against providers that use encryption, a practice that is becoming the industry standard. While some providers can join easily, a significant number will need to work with T-Mobile to determine whether their service can be part of Binge On. Many will have to invest time and resources to adapt their service to T-Mobile’s systems. The smaller the provider, the longer it will likely take for T-Mobile to get to it.-Barbara van Schewick
T-Mobile has yet to respond to news of van Schewick's letter, but as soon as we hear from them, we will let you know. In the meantime, you can read the professor's report by clicking on the sourcelink.
source: vanSchewick via FierceWireless