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BitTorrent Users Seek Compensation from Comcast
Comcast is facing a nationwide class action lawsuit for cutting off the BitTorrent traffic of their subscribers. The lawsuit aims to stop the misleading advertising used by Comcast, and to compensate BitTorrent users for the disruption to their service. Comcast is facing a nationwide class action lawsuit for cutting off the BitTorrent traffic of their subscribers. The lawsuit aims to s... more
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Believe It Or Not, F.C.C. Chief Would Bar Comcast From Imposing Web Restrictions!
For once, the F.C.C. does something rignt!
Federal regulators are prepared to take action against sellers of Internet access that want to restrict what their customers can do online. For once, the F.C.C. does something rignt! ... more -
FCC chief says Comcast violated Internet rules
Finally, the FCC has ruled that comcast's attempt to block internet traffic to and from it's users in order to prevent the use of file-sharing software such as BitTorrent has violated FCC rules and recommends that the company be punished.
There will be a vote on August 1 on a measure to bring penalties against Comcast.
Another win for net neutrality!
Finally, the FCC has ruled that comcast's attempt to block internet traffic to and from it's users in order to prevent the use of file... more -
An Imminent Victory for ‘Net Neutrality’ Advocates
When Comcast admitted last fall that it was blocking — or slowing down, as the company preferred to call it — certain file transfers by customers, a lot of people complained that the company was unfairly discriminating against heavy Internet users.
Now it seems that the Federal Communications Commission is poised to agree.
The Associated Press reported late Thursday that the F.C.C.’s chairman, Kevin J. Martin, has concluded that Comcast improperly blocked some file transfers. Mr. Martin told the A.P. he would recommend that the commission punish Comcast, and order it to stop the blocking, tell the commission how and how often it blocked file transfers and disclose to consumers its future plans for managing its network.
Such an action would be the first time that regulators have slapped an Internet provider for violating F.C.C. open-access rules. Those rules are designed to prevent providers from favoring some services over others — for example, by accelerating the transfer of video from their own movie service or slowing down transfers from competitors.
That will surely please “net neutrality” advocates like Free Press, which brought the original complaint. The group issued a statement Thursday night saying: “The F.C.C. 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.”
Comcast’s blocking efforts ignited a wildfire of criticism last fall, after the A.P. tested Comcast’s network and reported that the cable company was manipulating Internet protocols to intermittently block file transfers made by customers using a popular program called BitTorrent.
Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, admitted that it was slowing down certain traffic but claimed it was legitimately managing its network so that a few bandwidth hogs didn’t bog things down for everyone else.
Still, in response to critics, the company decided to work with BitTorrent and experiment with other traffic-management techniques to handle the loads on its network.
The dirty little secret of the Internet industry is that all the providers use software tools to manage their network traffic. Comcast got caught and may have been more aggressive than some rivals, but it’s certainly not alone.
Mr. Martin’s proposed ruling in favor of openness could actually end up hurting Internet users if it accelerates the nascent moves by the industry to charge customers based on how much data they use instead of offering essentially unlimited data for a flat fee.
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Comcast/Vonage Announcement 'Baffling'
WASHINGTON -- Today, Comcast announced a "collaborative agreement" with Vonage, a company that provides voice-over-Internet telephone services.
Late last year, the Associated Press exposed Comcast for cutting off access to legal file-sharing programs. In response to a complaint filed by Free Press and others, the Federal Communications Commission has launched an official inquiry.
Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press and author of the complaint, issued the following statement:
"We are baffled as to why it was necessary for Vonage to strike a network management agreement with Comcast to guarantee that their services are not degraded or blocked. Such anti-competitive, anti-consumer practices are already against the law. And beyond that, Comcast has been on the record as saying that they do nothing to deter their customers' use of VoIP.
"This announcement calls into question the company's honesty about its treatment of competing services. Was Comcast degrading Vonage's VoIP service before this announcement? And are they continuing to degrade other services that compete with their products? That these questions remain unanswered by today's announcement is cause for great concern. This collaboration should do nothing to deter the FCC from investigating and stopping Comcast's blocking other Internet services."
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Comcast just sucks, it's jsut Comcastic ain't it :LOL: WASHINGTON -- Today, Comcast announced a "collaborative agreement" with Vonage, a company that provides voice-over-Internet telephone ... more -
Consumers Poised for Victory Against Comcast at FCC
WASHINGTON -- According to the Associated Press, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to conclude its investigation on Friday into complaints from Free Press and others that Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, is blocking consumer access to Internet content.
Late last year, the Associated Press caught Comcast secretly blocking the Web sites and services of its competitors. In response, Free Press and members of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition filed a complaint urging the FCC to stop Comcast's harmful blocking and sought fines to deter future violations. Since the FCC launched its investigation in January, tens of thousands of people filed comments with the agency, and hundreds attended public hearings at Harvard and Stanford universities.
Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press and author of the complaint, issued the following statement:
"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." WASHINGTON -- According to the Associated Press, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to conclude its investigation on Fr... more -
Comcast ordered to stop BitTorrent traffic interference
ISPs 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.
Haha Comcast, suck it, it's Comcastic, lol. ISPs have been throttling BitTorrent traffic for years now, but only recently has this turned into a political issue. In a huge victor... more -
FCC seeks to punish Comcast in Internet probe
Comcast, the second largest U.S. Internet service provider, has been accused of blocking some Web traffic via services such as file-sharing applications like the popular BitTorrent used by consumers to share large media files.
Comcast, the second largest U.S. Internet service provider, has been accused of blocking some Web traffic via services such as file-sh... more -
The Worst Corporations Of 2008
This video highlights a few a the worst corporations in 2008. It shows why they are the worst corporations.
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Two high school dropouts kill Comcast network for 6 hours
These darn kids these days! The best part about this is they called Comcast to warn them and the dude hung up on them. Prank in place and six hours of outages and reroutes later, Comcast fixed the issue ... sort of. Now the kids are awaiting legal actions but I think they should be set free. Comcast should have listened to them.
Read it all at Wired.com
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/comcast-hijack...
Send some feedback. These darn kids these days! The best part about this is they called Comcast to warn them and the dude hung up on them. Prank in place... more -
How was Comcast.net hijacked?
It’s official, even a pothead can social engineer Network Solutions. In an in-depth interview with the hijackers, featuringComcast’s DNS records hijacked, redirect to hacked page some screenshots showing they had access to the complete portfolio of over 200 domain names controlled by Comcast, the details of how they did it, and why they did it are now coming straight from the source of the attack :
----- The hackers say the attack began Tuesday, when the pair used a combination of social engineering and a technical hack to get into Comcast’s domain management console at Network Solutions. They declined to detail their technique, but said it relied on a flaw at the Virginia-based domain registrar. Network Solutions spokeswoman Susan Wade disputes the hackers’ account. “We now know that it was nothing on our end,” she says. “There was no breach in our system or social engineering situation on our end.”
However they got in, the intrusion gave the pair control of over 200 domain names owned by Comcast. They changed the contact information for one of them, Comcast.net, to Defiant’s e-mail address; for the street address, they used the “Dildo Room” at “69 Dick Tard Lane.” Comcast, they said, noticed the administrative transfer and wrested back control, forcing the hackers to repeat the exploit to regain ownership of the domain. Then, they say, they contacted Comcast’s original technical contact at his home number to tell him what they’d done.-----
Following ICANN’s recently released advisory on preventing the very same impersonation attacks, it appears that even a first-tier domain registrar is still susceptible to registrant impersonation attacks. Makes you wonder on the state of understanding, detecting, and preventing social engineering attacks on the rest of the domain registrars. It’s official, even a pothead can social engineer Network Solutions. In an in-depth interview with the hijackers, featuringComcast’s D... more -
Quality Assurance: The Consumer Revolution
There is a customer service crisis in America, and consumers are right on the front lines of the battle. It's a situation that's gone from frustrating to infuriating to intolerable. This piece explores customers' worst nightmares... and how they've begun fighting back. There is a customer service crisis in America, and consumers are right on the front lines of the battle. It's a situation that's gone... more
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Cablevision Launching Wireless Broadband Network
I guess Cablevision was feeling a little left out after the WiMaxMegaZord became official with Comcast and Time on board, because they're planning to drop $350 million on a wireless broadband network for New York. It'll basically be a big Wi-Fi network initially (free for customers), though Cablevision says "ultimately it will be a mobile voice-capable network." Which is the real peg: a quadruple play option with bundled wireless (now just to compete w/ TWC and Comcast, let alone wireless companies). At least hopefully, since a $350 million glorified Wi-Fi network isn't gonna get 'em very far I guess Cablevision was feeling a little left out after the WiMaxMegaZord became official with Comcast and Time on board, because they... more
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Stand up for your burrito!
It's about burritos. It's about advertising. It's about controversy. What a delicious combination!!!!
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Comcast Sends Its Regrets
Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, has opted to sit out tomorrow's Federal Communications Commission hearing on broadband network management practices at Stanford, Portfolio.com has learned.
As a result, the company will not face one of its most prominent critics, Lawrence Lessig, the iconoclastic Stanford law professor and "free culture" advocate who is set to give introductory remarks.
Although invited by the F.C.C. to discuss yesterday's announcement that it is developing a file-sharing "Bill of Rights" with peer-to-peer company Pando, Comcast has declined to attend the hearing. Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, has opted to sit out tomorrow's Federal Communications Commission hearing on broadband ne... more -
BitTorrent 'throttling ISPs'
The popular BitTorrent client Azureus last month released a plugin which helped its users distignuish between the good and bad ISPs for their connectivity and performance.
Over 8,000 users collected one million hours worth of data with the preliminary results to confirm that Comcast 'continues to use TCP-resets to manage BitTorrent traffic on their network.'
The findings also show that Comcast is not alone in its TCP-resetting protocols, and although more predominantly seen in the US, such resets are do still happen in the UK.
They are open that the data is not conclusive, and that although the plugin 'detects all TCP resets on a connectio' it doesn't 'make a distinction between BitTorrent and other traffic.'
The popular BitTorrent client Azureus last month released a plugin which helped its users distignuish between the good and bad ISPs fo... more -
Hackers hijack entire Web
Seeking to make money from mistyped website names, some of the United States' largest ISPs are instead creating gaping security holes in the web's largest websites, including eBay, PayPal, Google and Yahoo.
The ISPs are making it possible for hackers to turn any website into a source of viruses, phishing attacks and other malware.
The massive vulnerability introduced by Earthlink and Comcast was quietly and quickly patched on Friday, after IOActive security researcher Dan Kaminsky reported the vulnerability to Earthlink and its technology partner, a British ad company called Barefruit.
"The entire security of the internet is now dependent on some random-ass server run by some British company," Kaminsky said.
Starting in August 2006, Earthlink changed how it handled the process of turning requests for a domain name such as Youtube.com into the numeric IP address of the site's server, hiring Barefruit to help it make money from this system.
The news of the massive security breach created by ISPs subverting internet protocol for profit comes just two days after the Federal Communication Commission held a hand-wringing public forum at Stanford University over whether it should punish Comcast its violation of a standard internet practices by sending fake packets to its users in order to reduce the amount of bandwidth peer-to-peer applications use.
Kaminsky is demoing the hole publicly on Saturday at the Toorcon security conference in Seattle.
Kaminsky, a well-respected security expert, is perhaps best known for cleverly proving that a spyware rootkit Sony included on music CDs infected computers in more than half a million computer networks in 2005.
The hole was made possible by ISPs subverting the Domain Name System or DNS, which translates website names into numeric addresses.
When users visit a website like Wired.com, the DNS system translates the domain name into an IP address such as http://72.246.49.48. But if a particular site does not exist, the DNS server tells the browser that there's no such listing and a simple error message should be displayed.
But using Barefruit's technology, Earthlink instead intercepts that Non-Existent Domain (NXDOMAIN) response and sends the IP address of Barefruit's ad server as the answer. When the browser visits that page, the user sees a list of suggestions for what site the user might have actually wanted, along with a search box and Yahoo ads.
The rub comes when a user is asking for a nonexistent subdomain of a real website, such as http://webmale.google.com, where the subdomain webmale doesn't exist (unlike, say, mail in mail.google.com). In this case, the Earthlink/Barefruit ads appear in the browser and the title bar indicates that it's the official Google site. Seeking to make money from mistyped website names, some of the United States' largest ISPs are instead creating gaping security holes ... more -
Comcast filled the seats of the Net Neutrality case
This is weak sauce, man. Comcast filled the seats at the hearing to support them against net neutrality. Comcast=little devil cartoons This is weak sauce, man. Comcast filled the seats at the hearing to support them against net neutrality. Comcast=little devil cartoo... more
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Comcast Charges U.S. $1K for Wiretaps
Comcast will only comply with FISA wiretaps if the U.S. follows it's guidelines. The request must be hand delivered to the Comcast corporate headquarters in Philadelphia. The U.S. government must pay $1,000.00 for the initial set-up fee, and $750.00 per month. Comcast will only comply with FISA wiretaps if the U.S. follows it's guidelines. The request must be hand delivered to the Comcast co... more
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fcc probes comcast on selective P2P trafficking
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