RebelINK

We have moved to http://rebelink.ravenslight.net, changed our look, and changed our RSS feed. Please update your links.

In the following article, Comcast denies “rumors” that they are throttling BitTorrent traffic. Time will tell whether the rumor is unfounded or true, but I somehow doubt that Comcast isn’t playing with traffic shaping technologies in a few test markets.

Comcast on Tuesday denied rumors that the company is filtering BitTorrent traffic running over its network.

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used to distribute large data files such as video. The protocol has been used widely throughout the Internet to distribute pirated movies. And sites that use the protocol have been targeted by the movie industry to stop the illegal distribution of copyrighted video.

Broadband providers have also not been big fans of BitTorrent because the use of the peer-to-peer protocol can clog networks with huge files. The blog TorrentFreak claims that several Internet Service Providers have been “throttling” or limiting BitTorrent traffic on their networks for the past two years. And last week, the blog accused Comcast of going even further to limit the use of BitTorrent on its network.

The blog claimed that some Comcast users had noticed that their BitTorrent transfers were being cut off and that they experienced a significant decrease in download speeds.

Over the past few days, these claims have been widely circulated throughout the Web. But when I spoke to Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas earlier today, he flat-out denied that the company was filtering or “shaping” any traffic on its network. He said the company doesn’t actively look at the applications or content that its customers download over the network. But Comcast does reserve the right to cut off service to customers who abuse the network by using too much bandwidth.

(continued)

See more here.

This article serves no other purpose than to illustrate that people are out there who need to be educated. The following quote stands out from the article the most:

Robert Heiser, a 53-year-old floor covering businessman turned real estate salesman from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, said that other than Bush’s stand on immigration, he backs the president’s position on the war in Iraq, the war on terror and homeland security.

“The Democrats keep complaining and whining about intrusion or privacy and all that,” Heiser said. “If we didn’t have that, then the terrorists would be blowing us up. The stuff he’s done is what’s protected us. Every big city in this country is pretty much liberal, but guess where the terrorists are going to hit first? They’re going to hit the big cities. That’s what I think is so funny about the Democrats.”

Obviously, he is clueless to what he is truly advocating. It is then our job to try and reach as many of these people as we can and educate them on why our privacy matters, why the recent FISA decisions in Congress are awful, and why Bush fails as a president. It should also be noted that the foreign policy decisions this president supports is the very reason why anti-American sentiment in otherwise allied nations are at record highs during this presidency.