Comcast's BitTorrent 'Managing' Found a Workaround

Last May, Robb Topolski, an independent researcher, found out that Comcast, a big American Internet Service Provider, was chopping down BitTorrent's traffic by quickly killing off any files being uploaded. The means they tricked everybody was that they sent a fake reset flag to break the Peer -to-Peer connection.

BitTorrent thought it through and proposed on Friday that four of its most prominent developers start working on a new extension for the protocol that would work around the restriction, TorrentFreak reported. "The goal is to prevent internet service providers and other network administrators from blocking or disrupting BitTorrent traffic connections," the proposal for the extension says.

Comcast originally motivated its restriction by saying that "We have a responsibility to provide all of our customers with a good Internet experience and we use the latest technologies to manage our network so that they can continue to enjoy these applications," as reported by The Register. Last week, the ISP had a filing with the FCC saying that it manages P2P uploads only, and that it does it only "when the customer is not simultaneously downloading."

If you were not smitten by their idea or are not rolling on the floor laughing, here's the trick: BitTorrent works on a simple 1:1 ratio, meaning for every file downloaded, there should be an equal amount of data being uploaded, else the respective user cannot start another download until finishing to upload what is owed. If Comcast cuts one arm, the other automatically fails. But even closer to the ISP's policy, if the upload is being cut, others have nothing to download, as simple as that.

Another little Comcast lie: it says that it is not 'managing the network' unless users are simultaneously both uploading and downloading. "Comcast starts interfering as soon as any of your downloads switches to an upload mode. […] It doesn't wait until all your downloads are done," Topolski explained.

Who should win it in the end? Are you for or against the workaround?