Comcast Ordered to Stop BitTorrent Traffic Interference
Written by Ernesto on July 11, 2008ISPs have been throttling BitTorrent traffic for years now, but only recently has this turned into a political issue. In a huge victory for BitTorrent users, the FCC has now announced that it will order Comcast to stop interfering with BitTorrent traffic.
Almost a year ago we first reported that Comcast was actively disconnecting BitTorrent seeds. Now, after numerous debates and false promises from Comcast, the FCC has ruled that Comcast’s BitTorrent interference is unacceptable, and orders the company to stop doing so.
Kevin Martin, FCC chairman told AP that Comcast’s BitTorrent throttling is “arbitrary”, and that the company had violated the principles of the Federal Communications Commission. Martin said that Comcast slows down BitTorrent users independent of the amount of traffic they use, and that the company failed to communicate their network management practices to their consumers.
Indeed, a recent study by the Max Planck Institute showed that the company had misinformed the FCC and their users. Comcast has always argued that BitTorrent upstream traffic was only blocked during periods of heavy network traffic, this turns out to be a lie, as the study showed that they blocked BitTorrent upstream traffic 24/7.
The FCC has announced that it will take appropriate action against Comcast, and the ISP will be ordered to stop interfering with BitTorrent traffic. Comcast has said before that it will invest in its network capacity and stop slowing down the traffic of their users, but these were all false promises.
Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press who filed the complaint with the FCC is delighted with this outcome, and said in a response: “Nine months ago, Comcast was exposed for blocking free choice on the Internet. At every turn, Comcast has denied blocking, lied to the public and tried to avoid being held accountable. We have presented an open and shut case that Comcast broke the law.”
“The FCC now appears ready to take action on behalf of consumers. This is an historic test for whether the law will protect the open Internet. If the commission decisively rules against Comcast, it will be a remarkable victory for organized people over organized money,” Ammori added.
It is to be expected that - if the pipes are really congested - Comcast and other ISPs will have to step away from the all-you-can-eat plans they have been offering for years, now that people are actually using bandwidth they signed up for.
Previously: Permanent Injunction Closes QuebecTorrent
Next: No Anti-BitTorrent Precedent Achieved in Canada
76 Responses
I hope this stands as precedence, or at least example here in Canada as our Telecommunications commission (the CRTC) considers similar activities by Bell Canada as it pertains to their own customers and those of third-party resellers.
Good decision FCC!
Hurray!
As a Comcast user who downloads/uploads on regular basis this is great news. I am thrilled that the FCC finally acted on what was so obviously a breach of contract and who knows how many regulations.
Fortunately, I hadn’t been affected yet, but I had read about areas that where feeling the “Comcast squeeze,” and I was starting to get nervous about what would happen to me. Naturally, Comcast controls my entire area, unless I want to do DSL–thank you, no, so I am stuck with them no matter what.
Now I can breath I sigh of relief and know that Comcast got exactly what it deserved–a slap in the face by the FCC.
Good Nice :)
Thanks
Thank GOD, finally some good news after days and days of bad news.
I am in the UK but still am so happy for everyone with comcast :) xD.
http://www.jamendo.com/
^Free, legal, great sounding, high quality music.
Wow.. the American Judicial system wasnt a complete farce and actually worked for once.
O.J’s still a free man but at least it worked for p2p throttling :)
Ernesto,
Thank you for your great and early coverage of this story!
The technological power that enabled Comcast to block P2P uploads did not exist until late 2006 and was only employed mid-to-late 2007. Only one other ISP (Cox) seemed to do the same. I wouldn’t say that this spells the end to unlimited access plans. We’ve had all-you-can-eat Broadband since before the year 2000.
Two ISPs got greedy and decided to put a halt to the Internet’s growth, and spent their money on secret technology to steal purchased bandwidth back from their own customers.
Both got caught, publically, but only Comcast tried the tactics of deny, diffuse, deflect, defame, and disillusion.
When Comcast bought up large systems to become the largest Cable MSO, it did not buy the Internet. It has no right to change how it works — not one byte of it.
How the world-wide Internet works is defined by all of us, through our participation and trust in the Internet Society and the Internet Engineering Task Force. To ensure interoperability and access for all, changes must be carefully deliberated and standardized there. The responsibility of operating the Internet in accordance with those standards is entrusted to companies providing access to it. It’s not Comcast’s job to change how the Internet works nor can it decide who or what gets preference upon it.
I haven’t seen anything other than the press reports about something to be circulated around the FCC. I am hopeful that when the details are released that it serves to preserve and protect the Internet from those who would abuse their power and change it.
Robb Topolski
Booyah!
Now if only we could get someone to bust Netflix for THEIR “unlimited access (but we throttle the hell out of you if you go above our secret limit).”
this was all unnecessary and dumb.. if they had been honest about there dealings in the first place there would never be a problem.
If its your policy, its your policy.. but you cant LIE.
Morons.
Now thats what should have been done way too long before…
http://www.hack5.blogspot.com
Let the eat the ….’t
Woo hoo!
i smell pwnt toast
I was apparently unaffected by Comcast’s throttling. I suspect prices will go up though, and since Comcast is the only choice for many people they’ll end up being the ones to pay the FCC’s moral fine to Comcast via a service price hike.
Sure, this is good - evil has been stopped - but remember Rehoboam’s answer when he was asked if he would be less evil than his father Solomon - so the son of this decision is probably going to be much worse in the long run - banning Torrent traffic? Upload caps? Who knows?
…something federal couldn’t be bribed
Oh ya real good news!! I’m nowhere close to being a Comcast user but just like someone said above, am happy for them. Use private torrents myself and know how frustrating it is to be not able to seed. Way to go.
Sad. Now criminals can commit piracy crimes!
@17 (FBI) - Go troll elsewhere, and while you are at it, tell your mom she was a lousy lay so shes not going to get the other half of the $5 that we agreed upon.
Quite clearly, another victory for the terrorists…
sigh
long live Incognito!
QUOTE of user FBI’s comment: “Sad. Now criminals can commit piracy crimes!”
What is really sad is that you believe that censorship of the internet is going to stop piracy and that P2P’s only purpose is for piracy. I hope the CRTC in Canada comes to the same conclusion as the FCC did.
As a throttled Comcast user I feel happy about this news, but I’m worried I’ll end up paying for it in the end with either rate hikes or a cost per gb rate plan… =^/
BTW, if it wasn’t the only cable option here I would leave it in a heartbeat.
Yeah, now if only our Canadian equivalents can be just as smart…
http://tinyurl.com/torrent-never-back-down
Lol :(
This will grow into a fight over net neutrality I guess. Comcast might appeal this decision argueing that they need to be able to prioritize traffic in ordrer to offer reliable service.
After all it’s business for the ISPs. The don’t want to sell you cheap flatrates they want to maximize their profits, so the next logical step would be to sell HTTP and SMTP/POP3 flatrates which is probably enough for 80% of all private internet users. That such a thing would also deal a great blow to piracy by making P2P traffic expensive is more than a welcome side effect I suppose not only for the ISPs.
We have some interesting years ahead, I’m quite sure…
“It is to be expected that - if the pipes are really congested - Comcast and other ISPs will have to step away from the all-you-can-eat plans they have been offering for years, now that people are actually using bandwidth they signed up for.”
In the end I fear it may be a bittersweet victory.
> “Sad. Now criminals can commit piracy crimes!”
Civil, not criminal.
@17
Hey jackass, not everyone who uses Bittorrent is downloading illegal content. Take your head out of your ass!
@16?
It is pretty crazy that they got away with doing this for so long. I am glad they finally stopped it. Broadband speeds in this country are pathetic. They should spend more time upgrading their networks rather than stopping the free flow of information!
Now Cox needs to turn its head on throttling too, I don’t feel safe being a seeder either way.
Fuckign right comcast
This is great news finally something good happens in the world
OUtstanding! One more celebration effort to keep the warez FREE!
http://www.FireMe.To/udi
Well… I hope those who complained are now happy. ISPs will now be forced to move to a consumption based billing model and everyone who likes to download large content will now have to pay the price. Quite literally.
ALL ISPs manage traffic. They have to. It’s called an oversubscription model and it works. And all those who use the internet to surf the web and use email are pretty darn happy about it. We don’t have to wait ages for a page to load just because some bandwidth hog is downloading Gigs of content.
This is the worst decision possible. All internet traffic is NOT created equal and anyone who believes otherwise is naive.
any comment from Comcast on the matter?
Hells yeah. I knew they would end up pwning themselves. At least America has done something good for once.
Bell your turn is Coming bitch…!!!!!
AHHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Welldone!
This is good news!
In your face comsat throttling idiots!!
Does anyone know when this will take effect? Do you suspect that it will take effect immediately or will their be some delay to when they stop interfering with Bit Torrent traffic.
Not to be too big of a downer but it was just Mr. Martin making the statement. He needs 2 more votes to make it official.
fuck yes!
Sorry 17, I meant 16. all apologies.
That’s bad. I want to see piracy criminals that downloads from torrents be in JAIL. I hope they get the death penalty.
So how does Hughes Net and Wild Blue do it?
Oh that’s right, they don’t slow just the torrent.
They just slow your ENTIRE connection.
Guess that’s an option for the smaller ISPs…
Bittersweet indeed…
I wouldn’t celebrate too quickly. The FCC could easily slap them with a $250,000 penalty and then go back to business as usual. Or, as already mentioned, they could appeal the decision and find a more amenable (read: corrupt) judge.
As long as the money Comcast makes from lying is more than they lose from penalties/bad PR, the behavior will continue.
The FCC if very very far from a night in shining armor. Like any policing force, it’s about the money, not protecting the public welfare.
Ordering Comcast to stop throttling and actually stopping throttling are two entirely different animals.
In other words, don’t count your chickens yet.
Any isp that throttles or limits ones total bandwidth to retarded low caps should be broken down into smaller ISPs. Does anyone remember when we had independent isps that competed with each other before the major cable/phone companys bought them out or had a hostile take over of them?
Its about time comcast got in shit for sucking so bad. It has been one of the most hated ISPs for some time. I laugh at them for being so stupid as to invest in traffic shaping technology. They have succeeded in winning the bad PR race.
I hope it was worth it to save a few million gigs of bandwidth that costs them like 0.005 cents to transfer.
If comcast does not comply it should be broken down and divided among company’s that want to provide a good service at reasonable prices. Same goes for rogers/bell here in Canada.
Free market is supposed to allow company’s to compete but instead they collude to increase there profits and reduce the overall service that people pay for. Why upgrade networks when you can charge a 10000x markup for a gigabyte of zeros and ones. But hey with the advent of new technology that make things run faster and better then ever, it is just not doable… unless you are Verizon… FUK IT lets just give all telco infrastructure to Verizon and then we can see upgrades instead of downgrades. BRING ON THE FIOS!!!
Fuk these shitty greedy ISPs that only care about extracting money so they can not invest it in improvements.
Anonymous sockpuppet: ” Well… I hope those who complained are now happy. ISPs will now be forced to move to a consumption based billing model and everyone who likes to download large content will now have to pay the price. Quite literally.”
lol, slut.
The “bandwidth shortage” crisis is a hoax, a get-rich-quick scheme invented by the upper management of certain ISPs as an excuse to overcharge their customers and disrupt BitTorrent traffic at the behest(read, bribery) of the copyright cartel.
Just because Comcast got bitchslapped by the FCC for causing fraudulent BitTorrent disruption, fraudulent being the key word there numb-nuts, doesn’t mean that ISPs will now be forced to use a consumption based billing model.
Go spread your FUD elsewhere, Mr. Dickless.
[QUOTE]
After all it’s business for the ISPs. The don’t want to sell you cheap flatrates they want to maximize their profits, so the next logical step would be to sell HTTP and SMTP/POP3 flatrates which is probably enough for 80% of all private internet users. That such a thing would also deal a great blow to piracy by making P2P traffic expensive is more than a welcome side effect I suppose not only for the ISPs.
[/QUOTE}
But if this happens, we all know that BT will die in favor of a technology that is indistinguishable from other web traffic using current traffic filtering tools.
Everyone has grown accustomed to hopping technologies when it comes to file sharing. Like MJ in his prime, you can’t stop it, you can only hope to contain it.
This is the first major victory for Net Neutrality and consumer rights on the internet … I’m glad to hear it …
The only reasonably priced unlimited data plan that I knew of in Australia also was limited to the slowest broadband rate -26k/sec. This included a 12 mth contract and $100 “joining fee”. 6 mths later they decided to team up with another ISP for “even better service”. They claim that most plans would be improved. All the plans were changed and with no unlimited plan remaining of course. They gave the option for users to cancel their contracts with no penalties applied. This means no suitable p2p plans existing, as although there are faster rates, none of them allow for the data amount achievable on even the slowest unlimited rate, and all of them are far more expensive rather than being “better” or “improved”. This means most users will be stranded or if they do nothing, they’ll be automatically put on some other plan. Besides that, users who cancel will have wasted their joining fee, getting only half of the agreed usage, which means the same as adding it to the monthly fees if you know what I mean. In other words, if it cost $30 for a month’s usage, which may sound good, but cost another $100 up front, then really the cost is $130 a month if cancelled after one month.
So instead of paying $460 a year or $35/mth, over 6 mths it becomes $280 or $46 a month, a substantial difference.
See their cunning and unscrupulous ways?
The american judicial system hasn’t ruled here. I wouldn’t be surprised if Comcast resists this ruling and takes it to court. Still, it’s a good step in the right direction.
The problem we have with comcast (yes, it sucks) is that they were adding up to 3000ms latency to ALL traffic on ALL ports about 30 seconds after we started any torrent. If I killed the torrent(s), latency would return to 25ms in about 30 seconds. This was just stupid traffic management and either incompetence on their part or criminal interference.
CRTC take a note…. You need to stop Rogers \ Bell from the same practices…
Take that you douche bags!
I am soliciting readers of TorrentFreak.com for support in a pledge to help me in an effort to reform copyright law and hand over power to the common person. I am trying to create an open discussion on what should be done.
Here is the pledge:
http://www.28chan.org/pledge.php
We need this to happen to at&t also!
[quote]We need this to happen to at&t also![/quote]
Since when did AT&T start? They don’t in my area, I dropped comcast to go with AT&T DSL and couldn’t be happier after dicking around with comcast, their service is horrible, not just the traffic shaping!
I am starting to feel the difference! :-O
no lies
Sad. Now even the big corporations are subject to the laws of the land.LOL
Maybe another suit….it would be hard to prove but we know that RIAA and MPAA do it what about theoretical damages for the people that didn’t get the service that they paid for years like myself.
33 get your head out of your ass and go kill yourself.
If a service provider sells someone an internet connection with unlimited download/upload then they have no right to throttle it. If the losers with slow connection cant handle it then go buy faster connections.
I personally have 24mb/3mb adsl(50e/month), best i can get here. Well i pay for a 24/3 but it’s about 12mb/2mb connection because of too long phonelines, still better than anything else. If some moron from my isp decides to throttle my connection ill sue them in a hearthbeat. Not so easy to sue people in finland but still ill find a way.
If you buy a movie that is supposed to be 2.5 hours long and what you get is a 1 hour long movie with lots of scenes cut off will you watch it without complaining?
Indeed if they try that ‘http traffic’ thing, bittorrent will simply adapt to LOOK like or BE ‘http’ traffic, so that’s not much of a concern.
IF they try to do away with unlimited data plans, I could see some enterprising company continuing to offer it just to greatly expand its customer base against these large companies.
What’s more, is cell phone companies haven’t been offering unlimited data for very long. It would be rough for them to turn back on it when they JUST got to the point to have it. The first one to market against it, would have a hard time. So, if the big ISP’s stopped offering unlimited data, there would be a push for faster cell-phone net speeds and more people would use their cell phone connections for the internet.
Other providers in the states should see this an opportunity for increasing the number of customers by making it VERY PUBLIC that it is a proven fact Comcast has been lying to their customers.
We had a “platinum” account with Comscam for years. During this time, I had to keep my downloads to a min. if I wanted to maintain at least a 1 ratio in the BT community. We all want to seed, right?
And how much should it cost to browse and check email? Certainly a lot less than to download/upload 100 gigs a month. Bandwidth should be available to users connected for a minimum cost and billed for by usage. Plans such as these would drive competition and free up bandwidth for providers.
Internet is still an Infant. OK, maybe a Toddler.
I’m probably one of the few people who doesn’t like this outcome. I believe the situation will only become worse now as ISPS will start to change their plans and start limited how much bandwidth a user can use in a month.
I won’t be suprised at all if we start seeing people having to pay $100 a month to consume the amount of bandwidth we’ve become use to using. In fact I know it will happen, it’s already starting to happen in certain states and ISPS have announced they expect to expand this nation wide soon.
Cool, comcast isn’t messing with peoples bittorrents anymore. But now we have to pay more money if we want to continue consuming as much bandwidth. Personally I’d rather have isps messsing with my connection then me having to fork over more money.
Kevin Martin has been a hero for years - one of the few on the fcc that actually cares about the public interest. Thank god there’s no more Michael Powell
holy shit my upload speed has tripled since over the past week. great news
Yeah!
The all-you-can-eat thing has been a cover for all the shady and abusive practices of the ISPs.
America needs this time of policing MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE because we hardly have ANY freedom of choice here.
Stupid people and free-market republicans always claim “we don’t need regulation, just let the market work — people will vote with their dollars”. But this is very misleading because freedom of choice in the market has long been stifled compared to most other developed countries:
1) The FCC basically killed off any chance of new competitors in the market by removing the requirement that cable and phone companies have to provide wholesale access to the cable and phone lines running to consumers homes. Without this mandate, competitors would have to actually tear up and run their own cabling to everyone’s homes, which the FCC doesn’t even allow in the first place. And the argument that the incumbent providers “own” the lines and therefore shouldn’t have to give their competitors leased access is totally bunk because the “last-mile” lines were layed down at tax payers expense.
So the result is that in America you are lucky if you have access to ONE cable broadband provider and ONE DSL provider. And since DSL is very finicky with US phone lines, you have to be within 3-4 miles of the phone company’s switches. So in somewhat rural and many suburban areas you only have access to cable broadband. Now, other than the 1-3% who have access to Verizon’s fiber-optic lines, the only alternative is satellite internet (expensive, unreliable and slow) and rarely wireless over-the-air microwave links (expensive, slow).
2) The other big screw-job is the fact that state and local governments in addition to the federal government have been defrauded out of TEN’S OF BILLIONS of dollars by the regional phone companies.
Basically, many different telecommunications and phone companies over two decades were provided with all kinds of different subsidies, grants, tax breaks, and other financial incentives in order to create next-generation fiber-optic “fiber-to-the-home” networks. Unfortunately, there was a lot of talk, a lot of planning, and finally a lot of excuses and NOTHING was ever completed.
The money was basically tossed away and no one was held accountable because the state governments changed, legislators changed, and the phone companies either were bought out by other companies, merged with other companies, or left the marketplace entirely.
The result was billions of dollars was gone, and there wasn’t even the beginning of nationwide fiber-optic network.
Shameful… more so because most of the population doesn’t even know or care about it.
Well, at least if there are penalties for the subscribers in form of rate hikes or traffic based rates, customers of Comcast (a.k.a. The Monopoly Devil in my area) will be able to do as they please with the traffic they use.
It seemed inevitable that the “all you can eat” deal didn’t work out. I don’t think any company that likes making that much money for fast connections 24/7 will be able to sustain those promises.
I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Thanks, FCC!!
Next step is to sue Comcast for
defrauding their customers as they
have clearly sold something they don’t have : up-stream .
As of yesterday morning I was getting between 5 and 20k down when it would actually let me download at all.. Yesterday evening I was averaging over 1000k down and 300 up.
Life is good. Back to my “criminal” self.
Yes, I agree that Comcast doesn’t have the right to cut back a user’s bandwith. I just hope that they don’t use it as another excuse to raise rates on those of us who aren’t downloading gay porn and pirated copies of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
Ha… Tokyo Drift. That’s funny.
However, how can you say gay porn and Tokyo Drift isn’t worth it as much as yours?
What did you download? My Little Pony? Seriously.
I know what you’re saying, Tommy, but I don’t think gay porn will cause your bandwidth rates to rise.
This is great news for users, all they need now is a site to max out their lines!
http://TehConnection.eu
dedicated to movies and movies only! download the latest releases and lightning fast speeds!
I hope this will be applied to my provider, Mediacom, in the near future. I note that when I use uTorrent or BitTorrent, it works great for about 10 minutes and then my bandwidth slows to about 0. At that time, I can’t ping IP’s anywhere across the internet and I have to physically reboot my cable modem. The problem only exists when I am using a Torrent client so it’s pretty obvious that Mediacom is blocking it somehow.
Unfortunately, Mediacom has a service monopoly on the Navy base on which I reside.
Get this. I’m doing this search on isohunt and what turns up but an ad for Comcast! Feeding the hand that bites you!
http://isohunt.com/torrents/?ihq=cream+hd
Ive never had this problem till now.I can only upload 10Kbs now before it was 40Kbs Comcast is still up to its old tricks on torrents in my area???
Nothing is going to change. They’re still lying their asses off. Eight months ago, if you mentioned blocking BitTorrent to a Comcast representative, they would forcefully deny it. Now, you can’t find a single representive that knows anything about BitTorrent. I asked to be unblocked and was directed to a request form for e-mail spammers after a long hold period. I said no, this isn’t it, and neither she or her manager knew what BitTorrent was. Now I’m less upset about being blocked and throttled as I am about a company that continually trains its employees to lie to their customers.
Any DumbSmock ISP/Comany or whathoot attempting to become the Next “Media Defector” like these dumb Comcrash fools here better be prepared to take on the raging anger of the internet.
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