Mar 27 2008
RamblerComcast and file sharing
Comcast has now agreed not to interfere with file sharing according to the latest development in this article. Comcast has done an “about face” and announced that it will treat all the various types of internet traffic the same.
Comcast has recently come under fire for allegedly secretly blocking some connections between file-sharing computers, in effect making themselves a “gatekeeper of the internet” of sorts.
Quote from Comcast: “This means that we will have to rapidly reconfigure our network management systems, but the outcome will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today’s emerging Internet trends,” said Tony Werner, Comcast’s chief technology officer.
Comcast has been controlling the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol, which together with the eDonkey protocol, accounts for about a third of all Internet traffic. Most of this traffic is illegal sharing of copyright-protected files. However file-sharing is also emerging as a low-cost way of distributing legal content — in particular, video.
Peer-to-peer file-sharing has become an enabler for legal content distribution.
Other major ISPs such as Verizon, AT&T, and Time Warner are currently experimenting with ways of managing traffic and limiting monthly downloads of their customers.
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