bittorrent

BitTorrent to Comcast: Let's be friends

q&a BitTorrent's CEO wants to make peace with cable operator Comcast.

The two companies have been at opposite ends of a raging debate over how network operators should manage their networks. Last year, Comcast admitted that it had been "throttling" or slowing down Internet traffic using a peer-to-peer protocol originally created by BitTorrent's founder Bram Cohen. The cable operator argued it had targeted the protocol because the peer-to-peer traffic was overwhelming its network resources.

The situation has ignited a firestorm of protest from broadband subscribers and Net neutrality supporters who say that Comcast has … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 685: Do Androids Dream?

HTC has subtly referenced Phil Dick by naming their forthcoming Android phone Dream. But is it a replicate? We'll never know. And of course Google is crumbling because their search traffic grew. You heard that right. We'll explain that theory and attempt to debunk it on the show. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 685

comScore releases February 2008 U.S. search engine rankings http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2119

Google queries decelerated in February–comScore--Silicon Alley Insider http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/3/ google_comscore_says_queries_decelerated_in_february

Google data watch: Enough with the overanalysis http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8272… Read more

Cable chief: Let us 'experiment' with our networks

With discontent still festering over Comcast's admitted slowing of file-sharing uploads, the cable industry's chief on Thursday set out to do a little damage control.

Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, said he's "amused" that in all the coverage of the Comcast-BitTorrent spat, no one's talking about the cable industry's role in getting high-speed Internet service to millions of American households and, by extension, enabling online applications and services to take off.

"One of the ironies is that most of these applications depended on cable's rollout of … Read more

Canadian public TV to try out BitTorrent

Update at 10:10 a.m. PDT: The titles for Tessa Sproule and Guinevere Orvis have been tweaked.

Following closely on the heels of Norway, Canada's public broadcasting service is adopting DRM-free BitTorrent distribution for a major prime-time show.

On March 24, CBC will use BitTorrent to distribute this year's broadcast of Canada's Next Great Prime Minister. This will make Canada the first country in North America to release high-quality, DRM-free copies of a prime-time show using the popular P2P file-sharing technology.

Canada's Next Great Prime Minister, an annual competition in which young adults propose ways … Read more

FCC plans broadband hearing at Stanford, after all

This post was updated at 9:08 a.m. PDT to add some remarks about the hearing from FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

Those zany regulators at the Federal Communications Commission sure like to keep us guessing.

A few weeks ago, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters that he wasn't planning a follow-up hearing at Stanford University on "network management" issues raised in large part by Comcast's slowing of BitTorrent file-sharing traffic.

Sure, rumors on the blogosphere had suggested otherwise, but Martin brushed them aside, saying they may have started because he was planning to speak to an Internet law confab at its law school. (… Read more

BitTorrent's dysfunctional relationship with Comcast

NEW YORK CITY--You've heard about the controversy over Comcast throttling back BitTorrent traffic on its network. But did you know that before the news exploded in the media, Comcast's chief technology officer was actually advising and working with BitTorrent?

That's what BitTorrent's CEO Doug Walker told me Friday when we sat down for a one-on-one interview at the Distributed Computing Industry Association's P2P Market Conference here.

According to Walker, Tony Werner, Comcast's CTO, was acting as an advisor to BitTorrent before the hoopla over traffic shaping even came to light.

"The funny thing … Read more

Verizon touts smart P2P software

A real-world Internet test reveals that "intelligent" routing of peer-to-peer traffic can drastically reduce network utilization and speed up downloads for subscribers, according to a new study.

Verizon Communications, which participated in the study headed by researchers at Yale University, plans to release the data on Friday at the Distributed Computing Industry Association's P2P Market Conference in New York City.

Using network topology data from Verizon and Telefonica, Yale University tested a software enhancement to the peer-to-peer protocol that it developed with software developer Pando Networks.

What the researchers discovered was that when using the so-called P4P … Read more

Harvard student database hacked, posted on BitTorrent

Harvard says about 10,000 of last year's applicants may have had their personal information compromised. At least 6,600 Social Security numbers were exposed. Worse, a compressed 125 M-byte file containing the stolen student data is currently available via BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer network.

In a statement published Monday night Harvard officials said the database containing summaries of GSAS applicant data for entry to the Fall 2007 academic year, summaries of GSAS housing applicant data for the 2007-08 and 2006-07 academic years, and administrator information had been compromised. The server had been taken offline for several days last month … Read more

FCC hints at taking action against Comcast

The Federal Communications Commission is edging toward taking action against cable operator Comcast for monkeying with its customers' peer-to-peer traffic, according to several news reports.

On Friday FCC Chairman Kevin Martin indicated during a speech at Stanford University's Law School that the commission may take action against the cable operator, which has been accused of blocking or slowing down the peer-to-peer file sharing service BitTorrent on its broadband network.

Martin didn't say for certain that the FCC would take action against Comcast. But he did say that he was troubled by Comcast's initial denial of slowing or blocking traffic, … Read more