What Else Is Comcast Jamming? Gnutella? Lotus Notes?
from the might-help-to-be-a-little-transparent dept
After the AP confirmed that Comcast was clearly blocking some aspects of Bittorrent, Comcast continued to issue its oddly worded denial statement about how it doesn't specifically block access to any application or content. Of course, that can mean different things to different people, and as the EFF is discovering, perhaps Comcast is being half-truthful in saying it doesn't specifically pick on BitTorrent trafffic. However, that's only because it's doing similar kinds of blocking on other types of traffic, such as content using Gnutella or even Lotus Notes. The EFF has been running a variety of tests and has found that Comcast appears to send forged reset packets for Gnutella, and it points to someone else who found the same thing for Lotus Notes.Of course, Comcast can do what it wants on its network, but to deny it and not be even remotely transparent about it is pretty questionable (and potentially a violation of FTC rules). Once again, this is the type of thing that wouldn't happen if there were true competition in the broadband market. If people knew that Comcast was arbitrarily cutting off what they could do on their network with no indication (and, actually, actively hiding the fact that they were doing so) many people would look for alternatives. The only problem is that there often aren't any alternatives. Even in the cases where there are, the alternatives often include one other player: a telco like AT&T who seems to be gearing up to do the same thing as Comcast in blocking certain types of content online. It really is a simple question, though: why won't Comcast tell its own customers what it's blocking? When you find out that the company is blocking completely legitimate applications and services with no recourse (or even information admitting it), it's really quite troublesome.
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Filed Under: bittorrent, cable, gnutella, lotus notes, network neutrality, traffic shaping, transparency
Companies: comcast, eff
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I use Comcast and Notes...
Comcast still sucks though.
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typo today mike :)
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typo today mike :)
just an fyi,as usual great writes keep up the interesting articles
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Re: typo today mike :)
Oops. Fixed. Thanks!
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It Sucks - But What Other Choice Do We Have?
My other option is Verizon FIOS. I have neighbors who swear by it, but whenever I've used it - I've been disappointed (various speed issues, they default to their own searches when you type a keyword or abbreviated URI into the address bar, etc.)
Until we're all running on large scale publicly available wireless - this is what we have to deal with.
No one is going to make the necessary investment to lay fiber in the ground in residential neighborhoods to compete with these two. And even then, one or the other will still own the last mile.
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Comcast vs Verizon
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speed
yea right, its not "blocked" lol
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Re: speed
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Re: speed
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At least some of you have 2 places to choose from. Comcast is my only option.
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Former Comcast customer
Verizon is a little better with the reliability, but it is still Verizon.
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Comcast the "bit-torrent blocker"
I use bi-torrents all the time and it has been in the past month or so I have noticed the speed of transfer is not just slow but super slow! Currently to tranfer a file that is 430mb has an estimated time of 36 hours with Comcast.
What the F*ck Comcast! As many have said one evil for another, what to do.
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Re: Comcast the "bit-torrent blocker"
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Examining content to block it
That would say that they are complicit in any illegal actions in the traffic that they are not blocking.
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Comcast in the Pacific Northwest
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Notes Traffic Manipulation Confirmed
I spent a couple of hours troubleshooting with one individual in the Philadelphia comcast market that was experiencing the symptom where any email over approximately 2.5Mb he would try to pass through to our Domino server would basically time out.
Doing further investigation I was able to confirm (using the wireshark packet sniffer) that he was being sent RST packets by comcast basically telling the server and client to drop the session. These RST packets were made to look like it came from the server but doing traffic analysis on the server side, the server definitely was not sending them out.
I opened a PMR with Lotus technical support and they are just as frustrated as I am. They are aware of the issues specific to comcast and are cant do much because the problem is not on their end and comcast wont even admit they are doing any thing to the traffic stream. I can confirm that comast is lying by my traffic captures. Bastards.
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BTW
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Con't...
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Im all for it!
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Re: Im all for it!
You're a retard. If all we wanted to do was browse the net, we should go back to dialup and have text-only websites. The only reason for broadband is to speed downloads/uploads up. In my experience upload speeds are pitiful. I don't think upload speeds have changed since 28.8 modems. I know this is on the topic of bittorrent traffic, but wtf is wrong with comcast and others? It's amazing companies will regulate internet traffic. Maybe we should start regulating childbirth and give out food rations. Whatever happened to freedom?
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Re: Im all for it!
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That explains it
those bastards!
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No competition
It is starting to look more and more like Germany in the 1930s. With the FCC changing the rules of ownership by Fiat, soon blogging about these issues will become illegal.
:(
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Net Neutrality
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Net Neutrality ?
We are being eaten alive, and there is no escape.
How can you vote with your pocketbook when there is no competition.
Thank you FCC and Congress for protecting us from out Fascist Overlords !
*kicks dog*
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Re #17
I think this is the point you might be missing; just because someone is using a BitTorrent does NOT mean they are automatically a pirate and should be blocked/throttled vs someone else's serfing.
I use BT all the time to backup apps and cd's I *purchased* or to download things that, while legal, are going to download faster via BT.
It sounds like your argument is along the lines of "Most BT traffic is illegal so it's ok" but where does this end? How can you assume that because the traffic is BT it must be illegitimate?
Some people use YouTube to post copy written material...so maybe we should throttle YouTube too. Heck the entire internet can be used for illegal activity - lets just cap everyone's traffic to 128mbps and be done with it.
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Also...
I've never received an e-mail about "planned downtimes", "planned maintenance", or changes in their services. It'd be great if ISPs would actually tell you what they're doing.
When broadband was first introduced, I was with a company known as Knology. They always kept me up-to-date with maintenance and issues. They even let me test different modems to better their service. I'm guessing Comcast just buys the cheapest equipment possible and says "good luck". Their customer/technical service is a joke. The only word they know is "reboot". "Reboot your modem." "Reboot your computer". They're not open on weekends, so it's impossible for a working family to get a technician out to your house. They won't replace your modem or any hardware unless they can come out and look at your settings.
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Help with your Torrents
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Got to love the UK at times like this
And a nice letter to the isp in question from a lawyer friend normally gets me out of their 12 months lock in contracts to
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Comcast also blocks MS Exchange
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Not just BT!
I'm actually leaving the US soon... good luck, citizens...
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Cox's Political Filtering
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Fraud
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It's the Network
I don't buy this logic. Why the hell do we insist on giving up rights? This information I am typing and sending right now is MINE and is intended for YOU, and Comcast or any other ISP has no right to say that you can't read it.
If I am paying for a service, then they have no right to dictate what information I can send and receive. The post office can't do whatever it wants with my mail. FedEx can't do whatever it wants with my packages. I pay those entities to get my stuff from point A to point B in a set amount of time.
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There is no Free Market
> official corruption that prevents its full prosecution.
Nor do free markets work when there is no competition. Face it friends, it's now or never for net neutrality. Give up this right and we will all be limited to watching sock puppets on parade while the corporate masters decide where they want to send your kid to go fight some war on their behalf.
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Comcast & Google
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Re: Comcast & Google
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Re: Re: Comcast & Google
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Replying to Article
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