RSSRep. Boucher Asks Comcast to Stop Blocking BitTorrent
By Ed Oswald | Published October 25, 2007, 12:22 PM
While Congresspeople have recently been quite vocal about their opposition to file sharing services, at least one has presented a contrarian view: Fair use promoter Rep. Rick Boucher (D - Va.) said in a CNET interview that Comcast should lay off BitTorrent.
"The inability of customers to (share files) significantly diminishes their ability to utilize the Internet for one of its most important applications, which is user-to-user content." Rep. Boucher told CNET, adding that Comcast's attempts at regulating Internet traffic were a mistake.
Boucher argued that P2P does have some applications that are not illegal, and those using it for those purposes should not be penalized. He does acknowledge that the company must keep a careful eye on its bandwidth to ensure smooth service for everyone.
However, he says that in doing this, the company should not specifically target one group.
The Congressman is noted for his advocacy of fair use and individuals' rights in copyright debates, having been the chief sponsor of the FAIR USE Act, and having driven through many exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, including one which makes backups of media exempt from violation.
Comcast had denied that it was throttling BitTorrent traffic since the story first came out in late summer. However, it wasn't until a story last week by the Associated Press where the company's denials began to look questionable.
The AP wrote of its own studies showing that the company was indeed targeting BitTorrent traffic and actively blocking it. Comcast's actions have managed to breathe some life back into the net neutrality debate, whose advocates suffered a setback in the wake of a critical FCC decision two weeks ago.
well ISP's are just as liable as the end user on what traveling over there network...
i be willin to bet that around 90% of the bit torrent traffic was illeagle, so coming from comcast's point of view, why even deal with it ?
comcast has every right to block traffic they deem unfit for their network
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|Hold on a minute, I thought ISPs were NOT responsible for the data traveling over their network, as long as they only transferred it without listening in.
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|well no not actuly, unless they know that there is... they could turn a blind eye to it... if they dont look for it and not see it they are not, but if they do see it and know it they are saposed to do somthing about it.
there is a few music orgs lobying to make it so the ISP's can be sued if there network is used for illeagle copyright infringment.
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|Hope they have the best of luck with that. The DMCA provides a safe harbor ensuring that ISPs cannot be held accountable for the traffic on their networks.
But this really isn't why they are throttling (or packet-shaping) Bit Torrent traffic anyway.
They are doing it because they over-sold bandwidth on shared pipes. Now they are running out and instead of increasing available bandwidth, they're taking the "cheap" (not so much if the Sandvine rumors are true) route and limiting the heaviest traffic.
It's like prioritizing traffic on a corporate network. Main apps get top tier, secondary gets less, and internet access gets to scrape the bottom. The only difference here is that they aren't telling anyone, they aren't living up to their advertising, and as a result are pissing off their customers.
They will stop doing this pretty soon. The backlash has already hit local media in some areas. The market will correct this. No need for the gov to start regulating (read: destroying) yet another private market.
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|all true... witch is why i think i had my first thought about the isp's being liable.. they are prioritizing there for they must know the traffic that is passing through, wether they know its leagle or not, i am guessing that they dont look into it that deep.
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|What do you do for a living? You seem like you could possibly be a lawyer or someone in that field. Not flaming or being a smart***, just wondering where all of this knowledge comes from.
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|Yea they oversold and lied to their customers saying they signed a contract for unlimited access, then did the old bait and switch and made it 5GB a month limit. Something that is barely acceptable for anyone that just plays games, let alone using bittorrent...
Then charging $10 for every GB over the 5 a month... OUCH... For someone like me that averages around 16gb a month. That would have been one hell of a bill... And you the customer would have been able to do NOTHING about it cause you signed a 2 yr contract. The problem was the ISP voided the contract by changing the terms from unlimited to 5gb a month without notice.
Thats why the lawsuits, and the credits to customers... And the false advertising campaign has been taken down.
Thing is people shop specifically for unlimited service packages, and when they pay that extra for that and are expecting it, to be told Nope we changed our minds... Its going to piss off the customers, and they are going to find a more reputable company if at all possible.
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|This is all true.
But what's going on here is not the people getting pissed and suing, which would be the best route. Not to mention switching providers (if possible)...
Instead, they now seem to be looking to the government, yet again, to make all their problems go away.
This is nothing that cannot be settled in the private sector.
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|No problem.
I work in the computer industry. I'll leave it at that. (no offense)
Most of the opinions and such come from my background, a lot of the facts, however, come either from online sources, or, much more easily, from the guys running our IT and Legal departments here. (probably where you got the "lawyer" bit from. He's a good friend and I've been interested since childhood, so we do talk a *lot* about laws, usually local stuff or tech-related.)
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|They don't know what the data is. The equipment (if the sandvine rumors are true) simply takes care of it.
Pretty slick stuff.
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|Its about time someone stepped up. Obviously it was a Dem...
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|Yeah, they always seem to stick their noses into private business.
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|Yeah, again with those darn commies....... Can't they let the libertopians ideals ruin America in peace?
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|Yeah, damn them for trying to help fix an injustice. yeah, damn them...
Oh, im sorry, lets just let big business ruin this country and do whatever they want. Keep living in that fantasy world of yours, as it seems ignorance is bliss to you (as always) hahaha
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|exactly on the sarcasm, lol
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|Yeah, damn them for trying to help fix an injustice. yeah, damn them...
Not their job. The market can take care of it. We really don't need the gov to regulate everything. Mattel sells a few bad toys? People stop buying.
Comcast starts shaping packets? People start complaining, media picks it up, Comcast stops shaping packets (or at the very least does so in a much less observable manner).
See? Simple, easy, and no government regulation needed.
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|eah, again with those darn commies
Never mentioned commies or socialism, troll.
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|Come on now, your just being rediculous.
That would work, except you forgot one major thing... It doesnt work like that.
It never has and never will. They will just keep the ignorant customers and shrug off the small percentage that complain.
You said "People start complaining, media picks it up"... so that some people could be our representatives or "public servants" as they are sometimes referred to. Thats their job for christ sake, is to act in the best interest of the people. Nowhere does it say to sit back, do nothing and hope that money hungry businesses will act in our best interests. Businesses will always act in the best interest of their own company, they always have and always will.
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|That would work, except you forgot one major thing... It doesnt work like that.
It never has and never will. They will just keep the ignorant customers and shrug off the small percentage that complain.
It happens every day. Take a walk outside away from your cave and check it out. Products evolve based on customer demand. The same applies to services. Always has, always will.
The *only* times this doesn't work is generally when the FTC isn't doing it's job, or when the governmnet steps in and "fixes" everything (Gas prices? the 70's? Anyone?).
Thats their job for christ sake, is to act in the best interest of the people.
...so long as those "interests" do not restrict the freedoms of others. You always seem to forget that one. Businesses can restrict freedoms pretty much all they want, they are not governed by the Constitution. The government has no such right.
Businesses will always act in the best interest of their own company, they always have and always will.
Correct. And as soon as this starts to go bad for Comcast, they will act to remedy it.
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