File sharers rejoice: Comcast and BitTorrent have
agreed to settle their differences.
Comcast, accused last October of manipulating
BitTorrent traffic in the name of “reasonable network management,” reached
an unusual accord with the owners of BitTorrent and agreed to reverse course,
focusing on expanding its infrastructure instead. In exchange, BitTorrent Inc.
will work on optimizing the BitTorrent protocol so that it doesn’t overwhelm
ISP resources.
“This means that we will have to rapidly reconfigure our
network management systems,” said Comcast CTO Tony Werner, “but the outcome
will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today's
emerging Internet trends.”
Werner said that Comcast’s traffic management scheme, previously
kept secret, will be published sometime today with changes made to take into
account feedback from the Internet community.
“We are working hard on a different approach that is
protocol-agnostic during peak periods,” said Werner.
The past six months have not been kind to Comcast, who has attracted
the ire of internet advocacy groups and the FCC after it was discovered
that it practiced a harsh form of “data discrimination:” Comcast servers would
impersonate computers in a BitTorrent connection and send phony disconnect
messages. Comcast’s novel form of traffic control – which it called “reasonable
network management,” citing BitTorrent’s incredibly high demands on its infrastructure
– had the effect of poisoning the well for both Comcast customers and anyone
who attempted to connect to them, hurting the health of the BitTorrent system
worldwide.
While they were once used exclusively for pirated and illegal
content, P2P protocols like BitTorrent have seen increasing amounts of
legitimate use from entities interested in distributing large files with a
minimum of burden – due in large part to the protocols’ democratic, distributed
nature.
P2P has “matured as an enabler for legal content
distribution,” said Werner. “So we need to have an architecture that can
support it with techniques that work over all networks.”
Percentages vary wildly concerning how much traffic over
the internet is BitTorrent related, with figures varying heavily depending on
who is asked. One thing is clear, however: BitTorrent, and peer-to-peer
protocols in general, represent an overwhelmingly high portion of internet
traffic, and as a result many ISPs are finding
their own ways to stem the tide.
“While we think there were other management techniques that
could have been deployed, we understand why Comcast and other ISPs adopted the
approach that they did initially," said BitTorrent Inc. CTO Eric Klinker.
The FCC’s investigation appears to be changing course with
Comcast’s announced changes, with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin expressing
commendations (PDF) over the new accord: “I am pleased that Comcast has
reversed course and agreed that it is not a reasonable network management
practice to arbitrarily block certain applications on its network,” he said. “I
also commend the company for admitting publicly that it was engaging in the
practice and now engaging in a dialog with BitTorrent.”
“I am concerned, though, that Comcast has not made clear
when they will stop this discriminatory practice. It appears this practice will
continue throughout the country until
the end of the year and in some markets, even longer. While it may take
time to implement its preferred new traffic management technique, it is not at
all obvious why Comcast couldn’t stop its current practice of arbitrarily
blocking its broadband customers from using certain applications. Comcast
should provide its broadband customers as well as the Commission with a
commitment of a date certain by when it will stop this practice.”
After a tough February forum between FCC investigators and
Comcast top brass failed
to reach any serious conclusions – and allegations that Comcast hired
seat-warmers to keep critics from attending – the Commission says it is
still on track for a second Stanford forum on April 17, which it will use to
better understand Comcast’s new plans.