

BitTorrent Developers Introduce Comcast Busting Encryption - nickb
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-devs-introduce-comcast-busting-encryption-080215/

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tlrobinson
This is a good step, but probably only a temporary fix. They basically encrypt
client-tracker communications to prevent filter software sniffing peer
addresses, which are then immediately disconnected. Unfortunately, BitTorrent
traffic has a fairly obvious signature (compared to most internet traffic)
which is vulnerable to traffic analysis. Even with encryption it could
probably easily be detected and throttled.

Disguising BitTorrent traffic to look like other normal traffic might work,
though I'm not sure how.

I have no sympathy for Comcast or other large US telecoms. Supposedly these
guys were given _huge_ tax breaks ($200 BILLION) in return for developing the
infrastructure for high speed (~45Mbps) internet to homes... but that
infrastructure was never built. There's a book called "The $200 Billion
Broadband Scandal" (though I haven't read it.)

Just because Comcast oversells their capacity it doesn't give them the right
to arbitrarily filter some of my traffic. I'm supposed to give them money and
they're supposed to give me a connection to the internet at the speed they
advertise.

Part of me hopes they take it this far and either get a class action lawsuit
brought against their asses, or piss people off enough to get some net
neutrality legislation passed.

Whew, sorry for that rant...

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xirium
BitTorrent and similar protocols have many legitimate uses. I believe the film
and music industry plan was merely to search for matching bitstrings of the
form <MP3_header><known_copyrighted_payload> and subsequent known bitstrings.
Even the lamest private key encryption defeats such matching.

Regarding oversold bandwidth, it has happened since the advent of 33kb/s
modems, got worse with 56kb/s modems and has become farsical with broadband.

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xirium
A few days ago, I noted that encryption would be developed (
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=114609> ).

