Help Azureus to Fight BitTorrent Throttling ISPs
ISPs have been throttling BitTorrent traffic for years now, but only recently has this turned into a political issue. The BitTorrent client Azureus has now developed a plugin through which you can help distinguishing the good from the bad ISPs, data they will use to strengthen their argument in the ongoing Comcast debate.
Last November Azureus petitioned the FCC, resulting in a FCC hearing which was held a month ago. One of the issues raised there, was that there is little data available on the scope of BitTorrent throttling, a gap Azureus now plans to fill.
“We at Vuze (Azureus) decided there was something important you can do to help elevate the debate,” says Jay Monahan, General Counsel at Azureus. “We created a simple software “plug-in” that works with your Vuze (Azureus) application to gather information about potential interference with your Internet traffic.”
The main purpose of the plugin is to gather factual data on which ISPs are throttling with BitTorrent, and to what extent. Already there is an ever growing list of bad ISPs available at the Azureus wiki, but the data from the plugin will make their case even stronger.
When the first ISPs started to throttle BitTorrent traffic, Azureus was one of the first BitTorrent clients to introduce a countermeasure, namely, protocol header encryption. However, this was only the beginning of an ongoing cat and mouse game between ISPs and BitTorrent client developers.
Unfortunately, BitTorrent encryption doesn’t work against the more aggressive, and ever evolving throttling applications. Even though there is a Comcast proof BitTorrent encryption in the making, it is always easier to use political means to stop ISPs from messing with our traffic in the first place. The plugin is listed at Azureus’ Sourceforge page if you want to help out.
For the paranoid BitTorrent users among us, Monahan guarantees that the data will be sent anonymously. “Be assured that sharing this data with us does not involve disclosure of any of your personally identifiable information. We will aggregate the data and may talk about it or disclose it publicly, but no data about any specific user will be disclosed as part of this effort.”
Previously: Piracy is a Negotiation, not a Fight
Next: Movie Screening Security Guards Take On The Pirates
78 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 » Show All
Please let me know when it will be able for mac.
thanks
Need a Utorrent version. Azureus hogs my resources.
I’m glad that guys will be able to add to the info on the wiki, but I’m not completely opposed to ISPs throttling torrent downloads. I would just like pressure to be put on them to reveal that they use “traffic-shaping” in their T&Cs and advertising. Consumers have a right to know what sort of speeds and bandwidth allowances they can truthfully expect from their subscriptions.
If some ISPs do not throttle torrents, they are entitled to advertise it and charge higher prices. The ISPs that DO throttle, should be more widely publicised. Free-market competition (yeah, right) should enable a new 2-tier system for subscribers to choose between.
[quote comment="319064"]
I used to like Azureus before it went to VUZE. I dislike their new interface that is like a wannabe Joost. I prefer the old, sweet & simple interface of Azureus.
But beyond that Azureus is a kick ass torrent downloader and I have never had a problem with it.[/quote]
you can disable vuze! start azureus> options> interface> start> Display azureus UI chooser> Show> Classic interface. then restart azureus and viola! vuze interface wont load! :D
[quote comment="318671"][quote comment="318607"]azureus is a resource hog. I do however appreciate the efforts.
J.[/quote]
We are in the multi-core age with 2gb ram as the norm, 4gb is becomming the norm and 8gb kits are cheap as chips.
Your argument was valid in the p100 days.[/quote]
not really? its a torrent client, not crysis ;)
Funny… the day you published this article I noticed considerable changes in my upload bandwidth… coincidence?
azureus is a resource hog. suv’s are a resource hog. lean and mean is possible.
“Kids and their toys. I have an ancient Celeron at 800Mhz with 512 RAM. Right now utorrent uploads at about 200 KB/s.
Memory usage is at 15.004K and CPU usage at 3%.”"
So What. Try launching additional applications while up/dwnloading then check that computer usage.
thts a great champ. changa laga bhi
http://www.freewebs.com/paracha2
Yeah, i have installed it on Linux but i just get a message saying “Plugin currently works only on Windows machines”
amen #24
i dont use azureus buttt
can sum1 from australia with TPG ADSL2+ net, plz test it and upload the info to the azureus wiki.
i would like to c results
I am not lawyer.
But if the Isps are breaking the encryption on the torrent client, in order to get passed it, isnt that a violation of the DMCA?
Hey, I’ve been using your program for years now. ISPs messing with BT isn’t cool. If I find out mine is doing this I will Immediately cancel my service. You guys rule, keep up the good work. Oh and by the way, I’m in the film business and I don’t mind torrenting of my films, not everyone in Hollywood is a royal class douche.
i had Azureus and i had seeding problems so i just switched to utorrent and everythings fine. ps i also have comcast
Perhaps the more obvious approach would be better: insisting that you be able to use what you pay for.. YOUR bandwidth. The FCC already has rules about this. Perhaps even more clarification would be helpful.
Failing to allow you to use what’s yours is a breach of contract.
When I pay for 20 mb/s I expect to be able to use 20 mb/s 24/7. If they don’t want anyone using 20 mb/s they shouldn’t offer it as an option.
I don’t give a rat’s a$$ how my usage of network resources affects anyone else on the network. MY contract is with the ISP, not with network members.
It’s up to the ISP to construct a network capable of servicing all network members, otherwise they’re also guilty of another kind of fraud.
generic retarded objection
“azu is a resource hog”
Sounds like someone didn’t bother READING how to properly configure the application for his system.
Additionally expecting NEW software on OLD hardware to function as well as NEW software on NEW hardware is patently irrational. Upgrade your hardware or continue using OLD software.
azu resouces
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/4719/azufinekj5.png
vs
firefox resources
http://i32.tinypic.com/w18plf.png
Azu, even Vuze, is delightful when properly CONFIGURED. it can even be configured to look oldschool:
http://i26.tinypic.com/2is8v0m.png
Plus I don’t have to tolerate crap clients or barely-sharing peers with azu. microTorrent only has IPA banning.
8 references to this post
Pages: « 1 2 [3] 4 » Show All
Add your response