Helen Coonan not in any way an idiot

You may have noticed that internet speeds are described quite misleadingly by the industry. Instead of using the data storage units with which we're most familiar (kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes) they deliberately measure speed in smaller units that can be combined with larger numbers (kilobits, megabits, gigabits per second). The difference, of course, is that a bit is an eighth of a byte, which means that you get to multiply the speed figure by eight by referring to bits instead of bytes. Hence 56Kbps is really only 7KBps.

This has been annoying me for a while, because I think it's very close to false advertising; technically true, but clearly intended to trick consumers.

But no-one is really fooled, you say. Everyone understands the difference. Like, say the Minister for Communications describing her new "oh shit the ALP is making us look ridiculous on broadband" policy in yesterday's Australian:

more than 20 million people across our vast continent will be able to access broadband speeds at a minimum of 12 megabytes a second

That would be impressive, as Crikey notes. 12 Megabytes per second is 96 Megabits per second, unheard of using such technology anywhere around the world. In reality the Coalition is only promising 50Mbps (or just over 6MBps) by 2009.

Obviously she meant to say 12 Megabits per second and just got confused.

Do you reckon Coonan is really the only one struggling with the distinction? Or is the use of "bits" in the sale of internet services a deliberately misleading tactic the use of which ought to be reviewed?

UPDATE: Propaganda arm for the government or just incompetent scribes hurriedly fixing an error? The Australian has changed the article linked to above to fix the "megabytes" to "megabits". Without any note admitting the change.

Memo to self: if noting a stuff-up in the Australian, take a screenshot. They're tricky bastards.