AfterDawn: News

EFF details evidence of Comcast traffic management

Consumer rights activixts at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have released a report detailing evidence they've amassed against Comcast over the cable provider's "network management," which apparently manages BitTorrent connections right off their network.

According to the EFF report, Comcast's network management software isn't just prioritizing traffic. It's actually spoofing network traffic in order to fool BitTorrent clients that there's something fishy about the connection - which of course there is. It just appears to be something Comcast is intentionally doing, rather than network issues that would cause the clients to legitemately close connections.



Despite Comcast's claims to the EFF that they don't target any specific application, the type of traffic being reported would be exactly that - targeted attacks on connections for specific programs. Although they couldn't confirm with 100% certainty that the forged RST (reset connection) packets are coming from Comcast's equipment, it can be confirmed that the mysterious connection resets only occur when one or more of the ends of a BitTorrent connection is through a Comcast connection.

You can find the entire EFF report in PDF format on their website.




Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 29 Nov 2007 20:55

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• 13 comments

• nobrainer

  its crunch time for p2p, if the usa follows the uk all isp's will have that traffic shaping and blocking p2p between certain hours for the benefit of their customers!
  
  
  

  Tor: anonymity online HIDE your IP from the spies, post and browse anonymously! http://www.torproject.org/
  
  
  THE RIAA SOUNDEXCHANGE ARE: SONY, UNIVERSAL , WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  THE MPAA ARE: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  30.11.2007 05:06 #1

• msam137

  is their anything as Comcast subscribers we can do. Because I know comcast does it to me and it shuts my entire home network down unless I kill the bittorent application.

  30.11.2007 08:57 #2

• DXR88

  Heh. i could give you all the evidance you need from comcast. you see monitering work both ways my friend if you just shut down my network i know from what ip address and were in the world it came from.
  
  but about a year ago the topped the iceberg by scanning my computer files remotly. i called them up and asked them why the first time in years they admited it. i said it was fine and swithed to bright house
  the next day. you do not search my computer without my permission.
  
  I know why they did it but it had nuthing to do with my computer. i simply turned my UP/DOWN Caps on my cable modem off for a day. they'll cancle you contract now adays if you do that

  30.11.2007 12:32 #3

• WierdName

  Well, they were gonna get caught. It's only a matter of time before the ignorant masses start to catch on, become informed, then fight back. Something tells me they're going to have to redesign their business model...
  
  Originally posted by DXR88: but about a year ago the topped the iceberg by scanning my computer files remotly.If that's true, that's a lawsuit right there. That's a big invasion of privacy and can be fought with many anti-hacker laws.

  30.11.2007 15:57 #4

• xSModder

  Throttle the consumer and they'll throttle you right back.

  30.11.2007 18:55 #5

• c1c

  So is there anything us Concast Users can do? I don't want them searching my computer's files. I guess I can switch to Verizon wireless but I think it is slower than what Concast offers.

  30.11.2007 19:48 #6

• DXR88

  Quote:c1c So is there anything us Concast Users can do? I don't want them searching my computer's files. I guess I can switch to Verizon wireless but I think it is slower than what Concast offers.
  
  they won't unless you spook them. like turning your Down/Up Caps off.
  
  Quote:WierdName If that's true, that's a lawsuit right there. That's a big invasion of privacy and can be fought with many anti-hacker laws. i would have if i didnt breech there contract. they were throttling me hard so i turned the Cap off on the modem. boy it was fun too i got like 50 mbyts a sec that day.

  30.11.2007 21:28 #7

• WierdName

  Quote:i would have if i didnt breech there contract. they were throttling me hard so i turned the Cap off on the modem. boy it was fun too i got like 50 mbyts a sec that day.Wait... WHAT?! You can turn off your speed limit, even just until they cancel your contract?! That's awesome. Of course, if you didn't do that, you could have sued- it being a reasonable lawsuit and not the crap that goes on nowadays- and made enough money to pay for a constant T1 connection for quite awhile.

  30.11.2007 21:45 #8

• DXR88

  Quote:WierdName Wait... WHAT?! You can turn off your speed limit, even just until they cancel your contract?! That's awesome.Yeah it was about a year ago there was a big flaw in cable modem's that allowed you to turn off cap limits.
  
  
  Quote:WierdName Of course, if you didn't do that, you could have sued- it being a reasonable lawsuit and not the crap that goes on nowadays- and made enough money to pay for a constant T1 connection for quite awhile. true but i didn't want a counter lawsuit's

  30.11.2007 21:57 #9

• WierdName

  Quote:true but i didn't want a counter lawsuit'sI was meaning if you hadn't turned off the cap. It would have been a fair lawsuit.

  30.11.2007 22:17 #10

• DXR88

  Oh.... sorry didnt catch that

  1.12.2007 15:48 #11

• WierdName

  Originally posted by DXR88: Oh.... sorry didnt catch thatNo problem.

  1.12.2007 16:27 #12

• borhan9

  Is it the season that all the organization bring out their reports with there numbers.

  21.12.2007 21:35 #13