Just by way of re-introduction if necessary, Im probably a key figure

as to why were all talking about Network Neutrality again. I was having a

problem uploading on Gnutella in early 2007. I tracked it down to

Comcast using Sandvine-injected RST packets and documented it. Blog

stories led to press stories which led to independent confirmation.

And here we are today.

Today Comcast and BitTorrent seems to have solved world hunger  and

Id love nothing more than to be optimistic about it. But I cannot

be. As they say on Slashdot  show video, or it didnt happen. This

deal is treachery, relies on how much we can trust the word of

Comcast, and leaves the public interests out in the cold.

I think its strange that anyone believes a word that Comcast says.

This is the Comcast that:

1.Told the government that they would not degrade traffic in order

to convince officials that network neutrality regulations were not

needed.

2.Started degrading P2P traffic the very next year, and failed to

tell anyone what they were doing.

3.Used a system that utilized forgery, and successfully placed blame

on the other peer instead of Comcast.

4.Denied it when caught.

5.Then changed their story when the denials were not believed, but

still never came out and said what they were doing.

6.Then they justified their actions by throwing their other

Cable-Internet brothers and sisters under the bus with their they do

it too! defense

7.Then stealthily changed the AUP days before an FCC filing where

they referred to the new provisions.

8.When the changed AUP started getting press attention, they stated

that a prominent story on Comcast.net alerted millions of visitors of

the change and accused Marvin Ammori of crying wolf. (Google cache

proved that nothing alerted users to the changed AUP until the day

after the press started asking questions.)

9.Then they packed the Harvard FCC hearing.

This company has not demonstrated that you can trust its promises, nor

can you believe its assertions. Comcast just used BitTorrent Inc. as a

tool to try and defang the FCC.

BitTorrent Inc. is a content provider. Vuze, who actually DID make a

complaint and petition to the FCC, is a competitor. Neither

BitTorrent, Vuze, nor Comcast represents the interests of 12 million

Comcast users nor the The Internet Society nor the public. And this

middle-of-the-night deal was made without their input.

Nothing has changed. The RST interference continues. It was a wrongful

act. BitTorrent Inc. has no right making a deal with Comcast allowing

it to continue to commit wrongful acts until it finally decides it is

ready to stop. The correct relief is to stop the interference

immediately and to FULLY DISCLOSE what it did and to accept

responsibility for those actions. (Even today, Comcasts Policy VP

refused to answer questions about the interference.)

Their word is worthless. Until the interference stops, I have no

reason to believe it will. Until either meaningful competition returns

to broadband, or until sufficient government regulation enforces

Network Neutrality, we have no reason to think that this agreement

will last through the night.

Robb Topolski