Comcast Slammed with BitTorrent Blocking Suit
A California Comcast subscriber filed suit against his Internet service provider claiming the company is engaging in unfair business practices because it limits download speeds of peer-to-peer file sharing programs such as BitTorrent.
Jon Hart, the Comcast customer which the lawsuit was filed on the behalf of, bases his claim on an investigation by the Associated Press that reported, "Comcast actively interferes with attempts some high-speed Internet subscribers (make) to share files online." The Electronic Frontier Foundation conducted similar test on Comcast's network and came to the same conclusions. The EFF also outlines nicely how it believes Comcast "interferes" with user traffic and compares it to techniques used by Internet censors in China.
A look at the actual suit(PDF) against Comcast outlines Hart's case.
Hart case is based on Comcast marketing claims the ISP offers "lightning fast" and "mind-blowing" speeds and that it advertises "unfettered access to all the Internet has to offer." Hart claims that Comcast intentionally and severely impedes the use of "certain Internet application" to the customers by "slowing such applications to a mere crawl or stopping them altogether."
The lawyers representing Hart argue Comcast actions, in light of its marketing claims, constitute an unfair and fraudulent business practice under California consumer laws. Lawyers are seeking "contract" damages and compensation for impeding service.
The suit seeks class action status. If granted a class action suit would mean Comcast might have to face the possibility of compensating its California Comcast customers.
The lawsuit was filed in the Alameda County Superior Court in California on Tuesday.
Comcast has firmly states it does "not block access to any Web site or applications, including BitTorrent," according to a statement posted on its Web site. Comcast does state: "We never prevent peer-to-peer activity or block access to any peer-to-peer applications, but rather manage the network in such a way that this activity does not degrade the broadband experience for other users."
Comcast, the second largest ISP with 12.9 million Internet subscribers, is facing heat from consumer groups including SaveTheInternet.com and legal scholars Yale, Harvard, and Stanford who have formally asked the Federal Communications Commission to make Comcast clarify its bandwidth policy.
The groups are also asking the FCC to prevent Internet service providers from degrading file-sharing applications in the future. Some of the groups are asking the FCC to fine Comcast $195, to each of the ISP's subscribers.
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Hi everyone. I'm a national TV news producer working on a story about file-sharing and new privacy concerns. I'm looking to interview someone who's used a file sharing site. It should be a quick & fun interview. Please contact me at 781-718-3324 or leighdhurwitz@gmail.com.
Thanks!
Leigh Hurwitz
Producer
NewsProNet TV
781-718-3324
www.newspronet.com
ComCast is NOT picking on BitTorrent users specifically.
I upload a podcast using FTP three times a week and I watch my speed go from 200KBps down to 50KBps every time.
Second by second, at 1KBps per second, my FTP speed gets cut.
This is not bit torrent. Its FTP and I'm definitely NOT distributing copyright content since I use podsafe music ONLY.
ComCast's problem is that they don't believe that you should be doing ANY uploading of anything.
You should just suck on their pipes like a good little calf while they suck on your wallet.
lol, Comcast can moderate its network however they want, its still their network even tho you pay for it, and they have a responsibility to ensure that the network is consistent for all customers, so when one person downloads terabytes of data, it effects everyone, so they throttle it. Comcast should make a call to the RIAA and have Jon Hart's hard drive searched for illegal content, since thats probably what hes trying to do on bittorrent. Stop crying and deal with it.
LOL? I always know a comment will be bereft of point when it begins with "lol".
The issue raised by the lawsuit has to do with false advertising and unfair business practices; both issues that njskiier fails to address.
Simply saying "Its [sic] still their network even tho [sic] you pay for it" totally misses the point. In fact, you don't pay for the network; you pay for access to the network, and it's how Comcast has (ummm, "allegedly") interfered with that paid-for access that is the focus of this lawsuit.
I agree with the fact that a company says they offer speeds of such and such a rate then they need to stick too that promise or its breaking there word and ploicy. I use to use comcast for ever since they came out and then i did get ride of it because one the price two the speeds started to suck but i did not need the speed anymore so i went to dsl with verizon so i got from speed issues to just having connection issues during the rainy season. but anyway, yes i noticed when doing the D/L i saw my speed dropping faster each second wondering why is this happening, then i realized that one the cable band with is shared with everyone else in the area, two i think they want to control your band with, thrid do u ever notice they ping your pc from california alot LOL makes you wonder huh well they are checking for you the home user to see if u r using servers at home with paying more money for the bandwith and other things as well. ttyl best of luck
It'd be quite interesting to see how this all turns out.
It'd be quite interesting to see how this all turns out.
"lol, Comcast can moderate its network however they want, its still their network even tho you pay for it, and they have a responsibility to ensure that the network is consistent for all customers, so when one person downloads terabytes of data, it effects everyone, so they throttle it. Comcast should make a call to the RIAA and have Jon Hart's hard drive searched for illegal content, since thats probably what hes trying to do on bittorrent" Stop crying and deal with it."
It's mentality like this that erodes privacy for everyone. Wonder how this person would react to invasion to his privacy -
"Stop crying and deal with it." Reminds me of what the 8 year-old beauty queen on Kid Nation kept saying.