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Comment by clammer | Hacker News Reader

>Comcast tried to block bit torrent connections

That's exactly the sort of thing that is fine with me. Bit torrent isn't http traffic. Comcast also blocks port 25... It's their network, and I simply go around it anyway.

If Comcast does end up blocking torrents on their network, perhaps my connection will be faster and/or cheaper for it. Torrent fans can go to another provider, it's called choice.

This isn't a case of favoring one website over another, it's about blocking non-http traffic vs a totally open network. If they blocked youtube, then I'd be looking for another provider, but they're not going to do that.

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> That's exactly the sort of thing that is fine with me. Bit torrent isn't http traffic.

Replace "Bit Torrent" with any other video on demand service. Now Comcast is slowing down or blocking people who compete directly with their ondemand video service.

Maybe bit torrent turns out to be a great video delivery system for a would-be competitor, but they'll never get off the ground because their would-be customers can't get decent download speeds when they connect from comcast.

Interesting to hear. I'm sure many people would be interested in certain things not taking place on their network, but do you really think it is appropriate for Comcast to make that call?

Also I'm trying to stress that you can only jump providers maybe once or twice. Not exactly a great situation to be in.

>but do you really think it is appropriate for Comcast to make that call?

I'd rather Comcast make that call than the FCC, who censors the public airwaves now. Some people think that's what NN is really all about anyway.

>Also I'm trying to stress that you can only jump providers maybe once or twice

True. Though I imagine that if all the networks started to enforce draconian traffic rules, there would be an opportunity for smaller, local startups (or a large well funded one) to offer an unrestricted Internet. I'm thinking Sir Richard Branson could start an ISP in that niche, Virgin Internet...

> True. Though I imagine that if all the networks started to enforce draconian traffic rules, there would be an opportunity for smaller, local startups (or a large well funded one) to offer an unrestricted Internet. I'm thinking Sir Richard Branson could start an ISP in that niche, Virgin Internet...

Not if they use the infrastructure of the larger companies to connect to their customers. Then the larger companies end up throttling the smaller company (and hence all of their clients)

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