Comcast Hearts BitTorrent
Ah yes, the good news is they are collaborating. The bad news is ... wait for it ...
The deal comes as BitTorrent, which became known for developing software technology widely used to illegally share files, is trying to reinvent itself.
The companies are in talks to collaborate on ways to run BitTorrent's technology more smoothly on Comcast's broadband network, and allow Comcast to transport video files more effectively over its own network in the future, said Tony Warner, Comcast's chief technology officer.
Comcast and BitTorrent have been at odds since the cable operator said it was delaying traffic from BitTorrent at peak times. Legislators and some advocacy groups argued that Comcast's efforts were anticompetitive because peer-to-peer file-sharing companies like BitTorrent, which is popular for downloading videos, compete with Comcast's business of providing pay TV.
Here's the bad news. Rather than throttling P2P traffic, Comcast will throttle ALL traffic for users with "unspecified" high usage. As with anything else Comcastic, we don't know what "high" means.
The deal comes as BitTorrent, which became known for developing software technology widely used to illegally share files, is trying to reinvent itself.
The companies are in talks to collaborate on ways to run BitTorrent's technology more smoothly on Comcast's broadband network, and allow Comcast to transport video files more effectively over its own network in the future, said Tony Warner, Comcast's chief technology officer.
Comcast and BitTorrent have been at odds since the cable operator said it was delaying traffic from BitTorrent at peak times. Legislators and some advocacy groups argued that Comcast's efforts were anticompetitive because peer-to-peer file-sharing companies like BitTorrent, which is popular for downloading videos, compete with Comcast's business of providing pay TV.
Here's the bad news. Rather than throttling P2P traffic, Comcast will throttle ALL traffic for users with "unspecified" high usage. As with anything else Comcastic, we don't know what "high" means.
