Re: Comcast blocking p2p uploads

["Steven M. Bellovin" <smb () cs columbia edu>]

On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:26:14 -0400
"Christopher Morrow" <christopher.morrow () gmail com> wrote:

> On 10/19/07, John C. A. Bambenek <bambenek () gmail com> wrote:
> > I love how the framed it as "data discrimination".  Let's just be
> > honest... 99% of it was illegal traffic taking up far more than
> > their fair share of bandwidth.
>
> is there really anyway to really know how much of it was
> legit/legal/illegal??

Nope.  And BitTorrent is trying to be very legit; see, for example,
http://www.forbes.com/home/technology/2007/10/08/brightcove-fox-paramount-tech-cx_ag_1009bittorrent.html

Besides, legal issues should be dealt with by the legal process.  If
nothing else, there one has guarantees of due process and the right to
contest the charges.
> Also, I'll channel Sean Donelan now: "ISP's... damned if they do,
> damned if they don't" It's a funny world out there :)
>
> (also, how is it that Comcast is getting dinged on this but BT or
> other carreirs doing similar 'rate shaping' for p2p traffic are NOT?)
Personally, I see a big difference between rate-shaping and sending
RSTs.  (I suppose you could view RSTs as allocating 0 bps, but that's
not a helpful distinction.)

That said, I don't approve of other carriers sending RSTs, either; I
simply happened to see the articles on Comcast today.

                --Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb