There are widely spreading rumors that Comcast is actively trying to degrade the performance of BitTorrent file transfers on its broadband cable modem network. Since BT uses a complex peer-to-peer architecture, stopping it is not as simple as just blocking a few port numbers. So, it looks like Comcast has resorted to sending spoofed TCP reset packets to terminate the occasional BT connection, making the protocol much slower and less reliable.
Why are they doing this? Well, the obvious reason is that BitTorrent traffic is taking up a huge part of their bandwidth, and that’s slowing down their over-subscribed cable modem networks. But this makes no sense. If Comcast users choose to allocate their bandwidth to BT, why shouldn’t they be allowed to? After all, that’s what they pay around $60 per month for.
Of course, Comcast will claim that they are trying to throttle the BitTorrent protocol due to the large number of copyrighted files it is used to transfer. Are they ignoring all the legal software, video, and music content that is also available via BitTorrent? There are tons of open source Linux distributions (which can be 4GB in size) that are frequently distributed via BT. And don’t forget local bands and amateur movie makers who use the protocol to spread their media content.
This makes about as much sense as blocking all email to help stop spam, or blocking all web traffic to help stop phishing attacks. Going after a widely used, generic, peer-to-peer file transfer protocol is the wrong approach.
By the way, according to Comcast, this is their policy on blocking network ports:
The only ports that may be actively blocked on the Comcast network are 67, 68, 135, 137, 138, 139, 445, 512, 520, and 1080 at this time. Any ports that are blocked will not be unblocked. If the port you would like to use is on this list, please select another port to use with your software. There are over 10,000 ports available for use. Please be advised that Comcast reserves the entitlement to block any ports on the network without prior notice. We thank you for understanding this security policy.
There is a good discussion about this topic on Slashdot.
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