« Spam update | Main | Spam -- it's even worse than I thought »

December 21, 2006

Implications of Traffic Shaping

Chart of ISPs blocking or, in most cases, restricting bandwidth to BitTorrent P2P file transfers. (Via the Wired News Monkey Bites column.)

So, are all these ISPs violating network neutrality? Or are they engaged in a legitimate and non-discriminatory effort to manage capacity on their networks?

Posted by Kevin Werbach at December 21, 2006 3:29 PM

Comments

BitTorrent seems more like infrastructure than shaping a specific application or provider. BitTorrent is the ftp of multimedia.

Posted by: metaphorical [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 22, 2006 7:38 AM

Metaphorical, FTP is an application. So is BitTorrent. And while FTP is a generic way to transfer files, BitTorrent is predominantly used to transfer large objects, especially video. The ISPs listed aren't just throttling bandwidth generally; they are shaping BitTorrent specifically.

Posted by: Kevin Werbach [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 22, 2006 12:05 PM

Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Remember me?