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Comcast blocks some Internet traffic
MSNBC.com via AP ^ | October 19, 2008 | Peter Svensson

Posted on 10/19/2007 8:15:40 AM PDT by PittsburghAfterDark

NEW YORK - Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally.

The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users.

If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella file-sharing networks. While these are mainly known as sources of copyright music, software and movies, BitTorrent in particular is emerging as a legitimate tool for quickly disseminating legal content.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: comcast; freedom; information; internet; netneutrality
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To: Spiff

13,256,278,887,989,457,651,018,865,901,401,704,640


41 posted on 10/19/2007 11:59:09 AM PDT by SubGeniusX (The People have UNENUMERATED RIGHTS ... the Govt. does NOT have UNENUMERATED POWERS)
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To: PittsburghAfterDark

Is Verizon’s FIOS fiber optic system a way to avoid the kind of bandwidth-throttling Comcast has implemented?


42 posted on 10/19/2007 12:02:07 PM PDT by Poundstone
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To: TWohlford
Comcast is primarily limiting upstream volume here, not preventing illegal downloads (yes, there is certainly a correlation with it and P2P upload traffic).

Identifying a physical location, user, port is MUCH easier that attempting to block specific copyrighted or content and let other things pass. DOD may know where certain users are, but there’s simply no way to monitor all transmission between us. And they wouldn’t want to, they’d never find anything in all the noise.

43 posted on 10/19/2007 12:46:01 PM PDT by zencat (The universe is not what it appears, nor is it something else.)
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To: zencat

Good to hear your success. I have a coworker (very technical guy in R&D with me) who had poor performance over DSL in his home. He went from Mediacom to DSL then back again after the bandwidth issues. He only lives about 2 miles from me so I’m a bit concerned with how my connection would be with DSL.

So far Mediacom has been great other than a month or two here and there where they drop service for an hour or two randomly.

Downloading from newsgroups FLYS in. But I have noticed during the 5pm to 7pm time frame it will drop back to about 1/2 of normal speed. Still fast though.

They haven’t tee’d me off yet so I’m sticking with them for now.


44 posted on 10/19/2007 12:54:00 PM PDT by RiVer19
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To: Ramius

> They sell Comcast business class service to those
> who want to do lots of upstream traffic. Though, I
> don’t think they’ll put it in at a residence either,
> and they probably still restrict P2P from there as well.

I’ve got Comcast business at home so I can host my web site and some ATC audio streams. They will let you do it from a residence, but it’s a lot more $$$ a month.


45 posted on 10/19/2007 1:01:18 PM PDT by MikeGranby
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To: rdb3; chance33_98; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; PenguinWry; GodGunsandGuts; CyberCowboy777; Salo; Bobsat; ..

46 posted on 10/19/2007 1:02:57 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: MikeGranby

Ah, OK.


47 posted on 10/19/2007 1:23:52 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
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To: tcrlaf
It sounds like COMCAST is trying to squeeze more profit out of existing infrastructure, in a a growing demand market.

There are several honest solutions: build out the network to handle the load, charge more for high-volume use, etc. But of course Comcast wont do any of them. ISPs have been advertising high bandwidth for years, and now they're panicking because customers are -- OMG! -- actually using the advertised bandwidth, and their networks can't handle it.

48 posted on 10/19/2007 1:47:10 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: TWohlford
1. I have no relation with Comcast at all.

2. Agree.

3. It's not their position to filter the content you upload. They already put a cap on the speed, should be end of story. You use up to that speed and nothing more. But apparently they want to cut the bandwidth of some transmissions to zero, far below the upload bandwidth you paid for.

4. My cable is pretty good, too.

5. It isn't a shill -- it's a warning. It shows the power of the few big ISPs and how they can damage the Internet.

49 posted on 10/19/2007 1:59:31 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: TWohlford; zeebee
In fact, the last Comcast contract I saw said "best effort" or words to that effect.

Then they have no right to expect guaranteed amount of funds in payment each month. They'll have to be satisfied with "best effort", otherwise the contract is inequitable.

50 posted on 10/19/2007 3:37:17 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
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To: TWohlford
On one side, you have people wanting to pass laws to make us free at the expense of...

...requiring the ISP to actually provide the service stipulated in its contract without sabotage.

Fixed it for you.

51 posted on 10/24/2007 7:25:05 AM PDT by steve-b (It's hard to be religious when certain people don't get struck by lightning.)
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