Comcast, BitTorrent and Net Neutrality
Right now the FCC is looking into Comcast’s packet spoofing to shut off BitTorrent traffic, which Comcast says is for the purpose of “managing the network”. Never mind that there are other ways to accomplish the same thing. Oh, and might I mention that LEGAL uses of BitTorrent are in direct competition with one of Comcast’s income streams? Another problem has been the disruption of VPN traffic. This is clearly a breach of Net Neutrality, and points up the need for stringent laws about it. It also points up the oxymoron of “Cable Choice and Competition”.
I’m hoping that the FCC does the right thing in this, since it is obvious to all that Comcast’s “interpretation” of FCC language re network management do not include shutting down a whole protocol, no matter how Comcast legal weenies choose to read it.
I’m a lurker on the Net Neutrality Squad MailList, which is a pretty interesting discussion list on Net Neutrality and Internet issues. One of the topics discussed recently was the response by BitTorrent users to Comcast’s spoofing of packets only within the bittorrent protocol. Some of the more tech savvy bittorrent users are now using encryption and other methods to circumvent the software Comcast is using to spoof. Though I can’t blame the torrent users for trying, I have to share the opinion of some of the folks on NNsquad who are worried that this may turn into a holy war between the ISPs (who, after all, control the network) and the bittorrent techies. Lauren Weinstein of NNSquad said, “We can assume that ISPs will attempt to deploy countermeasures, then the P2P folks will ratchet up another level, and … well, we may well end up with the Internet version of the Cold War’s wasteful and dangerous Mutally Assured Destruction (MAD). There’s gotta be a better way, folks.” To which Vint Cerf of Google replied, “The ISPs would be better advised either to build more capacity or, at least, try to do traffic engineering in a more fair fashion.”
Therein lies the problem. As long as there is no true competition in this space, there will be no further capacity built. And without Net Neutrality, and with the current situation of the “captive audience” it won’t be long before the ISPs push to turn the internet into the PUSH MEDIA they want it to be, where we, the people, have to pay for every choice we make, and our choices are dictated to us within a very narrow sphere.
I, for one, also worry that if encryption becomes the norm, and those who spy the streams can’t get what they feel they need, it might open us all for further breaches of privacy and more trashing of our constitution.
One can only hope that the current House Bill for Net Neutrality (HR 5353) makes headway. Please write your CongressCritters and tell them to support the Internet Freedom Preservation Act.
