[governance] Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Fwd: Comcast Blocks Some Internet Traffic

[Carlos Afonso]

Milton, this distinction is not flip-flop -- it is hard to
really separate both. One example: you download flawlessly on http port 
80 and get bogged down in a p2p transfer, even when you know for sure 
both sides are well connected. This is not traffic management, or it is, 
with a purpose: exactly to go against net neutrality for reasons the 
user does not know about and/or have not been negotiated with him/her.

I have signed several broadband contracts, and I have never seen a 
clause which tells me they are entitled to prohibit me from using a 
certain port or protocol service from my home machine; they do say I am 
entitled to xxx Mb/s up and yyy Mb/s down, and this is as far as they 
should go in bandwidth management -- of course they go far beyond this.

They are just making sure you keep within what they estimate is the 
usage of their bandwidth resources which gives them the most money -- 
business as usual...

--c.a.

Milton L Mueller wrote:
> It's important to understand the distinction between net neutrality,
> which means nondiscriminatory access to internet resources, and
> bandwidth management. The two have gotten confused. Networks have a
> right to manage their bandwidth. They don't have a right to block
> access to specific sites or applications, based on the content or
> competition at the site.
> 
> 
> Milton Mueller, Professor Syracuse University School of Information
> Studies ------------------------------ Internet Governance Project: 
> http://internetgovernance.org ------------------------------ The
> Convergence Center: http://www.digitalconvergence.org
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Carlos Afonso
> [mailto:ca at rits.org.br] Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 1:32 PM To:
> Virtual WSIS CS Plenary Group Space Cc: governance at lists.cpsr.org;
> africa at wsis-cs.org Subject: [governance] Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Fwd:
> Comcast Blocks Some Internet Traffic
> 
> The same happens in Brazil, albeit in a more sophisticated fashion. 
> Certain services might be totally blocked (like a ssh connection, or
> the mx port 25 if you want to run a mail server in your home), or
> degraded (like p2p and voip traffic). The big broadband operators
> recognize they do it and say that, as they are the good and wonderful
> people they are, they are doing this to protect us, their "valuable",
> dummy customers. Anatel, our FCC, feels powerless to do anything on
> this (or is afraid to), except in extreme cases, like when BR Telecom
> blocked Skype traffic altogether.
> 
> So, user traffic is blocked, manipulated, degraded, or outrightly
> peeked at (and selectively recorded at incredibly high speeds, like
> the infamous AT&T+NSA practice denounced by EFF in the USA) in nearly
> all countries. It seems fashionable to single out China, Cuba and a
> few other countries (like the RSF list of baddies) as the villains,
> but the USA and many other "democracies" are doing the same (with
> more or less sophistication).
> 
> Net neutrality! Where? Where?
> 
> [] fraterno
> 
> --c.a.
> 
> Rui Correia wrote:
> 
>> Dear All
>> 
>> I thought this is pertinent on these forums.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Rui
>> 
>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: t r u t h o u t
>> <messenger at truthout.org> Date: 20 Oct 2007 01:50 Subject: Comcast
>> Blocks Some Internet Traffic To: correia.rui at gmail.com
>> 
>> t r u t h o u t | 10.19
>> 
>> Go directly to our issues page:
>> http://www.truthout.org/issues.shtml
>> 
>> Comcast Blocks Some Internet Traffic 
>> http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101907R.shtml Peter Svensson,
>> reporting for The Associated Press, writes: "Comcast Corp. actively
>> interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet 
>> subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the
>> tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally. The
>> interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through
>> nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data
>> discrimination by a US Internet service provider."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Comcast interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet
>>  subscribers to share files online; J. Sri Raman writes on the
>> return of Benazir Bhutto; enormous problems in management lead to
>> criminal probe into Iraq construction of US embassy; power plant
>> rejected over carbon dioxide in Kansas for first time in US
>> history; historic bill in Senate to fight warming affecting every
>> major segment of the nation's economy; Bush aide rejects climate
>> goal; Guatemala union heads killed; Carolyn Maloney writes on
>> battling the birth control price hike; Marie Cocco of Truthdig on 
>> Medicare; Tom Philpott of Grist.org interviews Michael Pollan; and
>> more ... Browse our continually updating front page at
>> http://www.truthout.org
>