Comcast Sued by Throttled BitTorrent Users for $16 Million!
Recently, Comcast lost the lawsuit against angry BitTorrent users who were “throttled” although Comcast still denies their actions. For that, the affected comcast users will get up to $16 each.
Not a hefty amount but still, sends a message to all ISPs to not be a “god” of the internet but rather “provide” like ISP stands for Internet Service Provider.
About two and a half years ago, reports surfaced on what appeared to be the throttling of BitTorrent connections by Comcast. The throttling, first discovered by Rob Toplowski, was confirmed by TorrentFreak, and was first reported in August 2007. Other news agencies picked it up later, especially after tests by the EFF and Associated Press confirmed events and included reports that other network based activity was also affected.
Comcast long-denied any wrongdoing, but a leaked memo revealed that the company went as far as instructing its front-line staff to lie about the issue. Then the FCC got involved and things deteriorated. At a hearing at Harvard, Comcast packed the venue with people they bussed in, but it didn’t stop the BitTorrent throttling practice being termed a ‘hacker technique’.
Tags: $16 million, bittorrent, comcast, sued, throttled, users
