Consumer groups want Comcast fined for thwarting the Bible
,----[ Quote ]
| A number of consumer groups are petitioning the FCC to fine Comcast $195,000
| for every customer affected by their BitTorrent-throttling practices. The FCC
| has said in the past that service providers can't "block" customers from
| using certain applications or websites, but it hasn't enforced that policy.
`----
http://valleywag.com/tech/politics/consumer-groups-want-comcast-fined-for-thwarting-the-bible-317960.php
Incidentally:
University Defies RIAA Demand to Release Student Downloaders' Names
,----[ Quote ]
| The University of Oregon (my alma mater, coincidentally) is believed to be
| the first US educational institution to refuse an RIAA demand to hand over
| the names of students alleged to have illegally downloaded music.
`----
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/university_defies_riaa.php
The issue is that they cannot tell if malware controls the PC or if
legally-distributable content is downloaded. They blindly send letters. Also:
Canadian Study: Piracy Boosts CD Sales
,----[ Quote ]
| A recent study on the impact of filesharing on CD sales shows that the more
| music people download on P2P-networks, the more CDs they buy.
`----
http://torrentfreak.com/piracy-boosts-cd-sales-071103/
Related:
Comcast reported to FCC
,----[ Quote ]
| P2P throttling breaks FCC 'net neutrality' policy
|
| [...]
|
| Among the consumer groups who have approached the FCC are the Consumer
| Federation of America, the Consumers Union, the Media Access Project and
| professors at the Internet practices of the Yale, Harvard and Stanford law
| schools.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/11/02/comcast-reported-fcc
Comcast's "We Don't Throttle BitTorrent" Internal Talking Points Memo
http://consumerist.com/consumer/leaks/comcasts-we-dont-throttle-bittorrent-internal-talking-points-memo-315791.php
Comcast Isn’t Net Neutral; Are They Liars, Too?
,----[ Quote ]
| Following reports that Comcast isn’t net neutral, Consumerist blog has
| acquired several leaks from Comcast insiders, claiming that they do indeed
| use Sandvine for packet shaping, and that customer service representatives
| are being told nothing about how the network technology works,
`----
http://mashable.com/2007/10/26/comcast-isnt-net-neutral-are-they-liars-too/
Senators want probe of Comcast's BitTorrent 'discrimination'
,----[ Quote ]
| The senators suggested the incidents indicate "Congress should consider
| adopting targeted regulations to protect consumers and ensure a vibrant and
| open communications platform."
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9805308-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Congressman to Comcast: Stop interfering with BitTorrent
,----[ Quote ]
| While a class action lawsuit is definitely one way to get Comcast to behave,
| another perhaps more productive way to do so is to have politicians step in
| and regulate.
|
| On Tuesday, I discussed the issue of Comcast's anti-BitTorrent "network
| management" with Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who is a strong supporter of
| consumer rights and has led the battle to undo the damage caused by the
| Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9804158-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
OiNK Down, Norwegian BitTorrent Trackers Next
,----[ Quote ]
| With the BitTorrent world spinning on its heels after the shock takedown of
| the huge OiNK tracker, there are now indications that the shutdowns may
| continue. According to the lawyer who lost against ‘DVD Jon’, next stop is
| Norway and raids are imminent.
`----
http://torrentfreak.com/oink-down-norwegian-bittorrent-trackers-next-071024/
TorrentSpy Traffic Plunges After US Ban
,----[ Quote ]
| The MPAA has caused TorrentSpy, once the most popular BitTorrent site, some
| serious headaches. After a federal judge ordered TorrentSpy to log all user
| data stored in RAM, they decided to block access to US users, consequently
| their traffic dropped significantly.
`----
http://torrentfreak.com/torrentspy-traffic-plunges-after-us-ban-071006/
BitTorrent Admin Monitored by US Government, Forced to Dump Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| Sk0t, an ex-administrator of the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker is to have
| his internet connection forcibly monitored by the US Government. If that
| wasn’t bad enough, the monitoring software is Windows based - which means he
| is being forced to ditch Linux - or face being barred from the internet.
`----
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-admin-monitored-by-us-government-forced-to-dump-linux/
Is Comcast's BitTorrent filtering violating the law?
,----[ Quote ]
| Assuming that the SYN packet goes through, the three-way handshake is allowed
| to happen, then the two hosts will be able to begin communicating. Your ISP
| can still kill the connection later, should they wish to, merely by blocking
| the transmission of future packets.
|
| According to Torrent Freak, Comcast is not doing this. They are instead
| sending a reset (or RST) packet to the Comcast customer, pretending to be
| from the host at the end of the BitTorrent connection.
`----
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9769645-46.html
Comcast Cuts Off Heavy Internet Users
,----[ Quote ]
| Customers complain bandwidth limits are secret.
`----
http://consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/08/comcast_ban.html?imw=Y
Torrentspy Disables Searching For US IPs
,----[ Quote
| Torrent indexing site Torrentspy.com appears to have disabled torrent
| searches for IPs that originate in the United States.
`----
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/27/1541244&from=rss
Comcast Throttles BitTorrent Traffic, Seeding Impossible
,----[ Quote ]
| Over the past weeks more and more Comcast users started to notice that their
| BitTorrent transfers were cut off. Most users report a significant decrease
| in download speeds, and even worse, they are unable to seed their downloads.
| A nightmare for people who want to keep up a positive ratio at private
| trackers and for the speed of BitTorrent transfers in general.
|
| [...]
|
| Last year we had a discussion whether traffic shaping is good or bad, and
| ISPs made it pretty clear that they do not like P2P applications like
| BitTorrent. One of the ISPs that joined our discussions said: “The fact is,
| P2P is (from my point of view) a plague - a cancer, that will consume all the
| bandwidth that I can provide. It’s an insatiable appetite.”, and another one
| stated: “P2P applications can cripple a network, they’re like leaches. Just
| because you pay 49.99 for a 1.5-3.0mbps connection doesn’t mean your entitled
| to use whatever protocols you wish on your ISP’s network without them
| provisioning it to make the network experience good for all users involved.”
`----
http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-throttles-bittorrent-traffic-seeding-impossible/
Anti-Piracy Company Wants to Sell Patents to Protect P2P
,----[ Quote ]
| Recently we reported that anti-piracy company Viralg is selling the patents
| to its technology on eBay for $1,000,000. Most people didn’t think it was
| value for money but Viralg have been in touch and they have a new idea -
| selling the patents to P2P’ers to help prevent some future anti-P2P
| technology.
`----
http://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-company-wants-to-sell-patents-to-protect-p2p-070927/
Studies: music industry overstating threat of P2P piracy
,----[ Quote ]
| Or perhaps it's not all that amazing. A more likely explanation is
| that the numbers aren't even right. As Canadian law professor Michael
| Geist showed a few weeks ago, claims about piracy rates can be wildly
| variable and downright fictional. High numbers are often used to
| support legal threats or calls for Congressional action, as in the
| MRT case. MRT has a lot to gain by overstating the threat of
| streamripping and, so far, has not showed its numbers. Both MRT
| and NPD agree, though, that P2P is hardly the music industry's
| biggest problem.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070531-studies-music-industry-overstating-threat-of-p2p-piracy.html
File sharing could threaten personal and national security
,----[ Quote ]
| A recent government report says that the old adage "buyer beware" now
| even applies to those who are not technically buying anything at all.
| Despite the reputation of "free" downloads, much of the illegal file
| sharing done on the internet comes at a steep price: personal and
| national security.
`----
http://www.edn.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA6424471&partner=eb&spacedesc=news
|
|
