BitTorrent and Comcast?

[Bill Mullen]

On Mon, 2004-09-27 at 16:05, Bill Freeman wrote:
> 	Does anyone know whether Comcast considers using BitTorrent as
> a client to be a terms of service violation (because each client also
> serves)?  I can't get a straight answer out of Comcast customer
> support.  They just quote the sections of the terms of service that
> caused me to ask in the first place.  But it's not clear to me whether
> a BitTorrent client is what they consider to be, legally, a "server".
> What probably matters is whether their network monitoring people watch
> for, notice, and object to, the kind of activity that BitTorrent
> generates.
> 
> 	Any experiences, positive, negative, or otherwise?

I have no idea whether or not they include BT under their definition
(though I can certainly see how they might), but I can attest to having
used the BT client about two dozen times now on Comcast-connected
systems, without my having heard a peep from them about it - and that
includes leaving it up for 12-24 hours after the d/l completes, in order
to achieve a share ratio > 1.0.

I think it's probably relatively safe to postulate three things:

1) That a strict interpretation of the rule would encompass BT on the
list of servers, as it involves an app listening for and responding to
connects originating from other systems, and then sending them data;

2) That they probably haven't given BT much thought, as it likely makes
up only a tiny fraction of the P2P traffic on their net by comparison
with KaZaa and whatever else is popular on Wintendo boxes these days;

3) That if they are monitoring BT traffic at all, it seems that they are
not inclined (ATM) to be draconian in their attitude towards it.

That's just based on my limited experience, though; hope it helps some.

-- 
Bill Mullen
RLU# 270075