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Re: All network traffic is created equal, experts to tell CRTC - Page 3

alex_dm — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:31:29 -0000

Here is an excerp from wikipedia outlining present p2papplication uses:

One note on "file sharing" it is worth reading the "public perception link"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

* File sharing: Peer-to-peer file sharing was the first application area that popularized peer-to-peer technologies. Today it is estimated as the largest contributor of network traffic on the Internet.

* Bioinformatics: P2P networks have also begun to attract attention from scientists in other disciplines, especially those that deal with large datasets such as bioinformatics. P2P networks can be used to run large programs designed to carry out tests to identify drug candidates. The first such program was begun in 2001 the Centre for Computational Drug Discovery at Oxford University in cooperation with the National Foundation for Cancer Research. There are now several similar programs running under the auspices of the United Devices Cancer Research Project.

* Academic Search engine: The sciencenet P2P search engine provides a free and open search engine for scientific knowledge. sciencenet is based on yacy technology. Universities / research institutes can download the free java software and contribute with their own peer(s) to the global network. Liebel-Lab @ Karlsruhe institute of technology KIT.

* Education and Academia: Due to the fast distribution and large storage space features, many organizations are trying to apply P2P networks for educational and academic purposes. For instance, Pennsylvania State University, MIT and Simon Fraser University are carrying on a project called LionShare designed for facilitating file sharing among educational institutions globally.

* Military: The U.S. Department of Defense has already started research on P2P networks as part of its modern network warfare strategy. In November, 2001, Colonel Robert Wardell from the Pentagon told a group of P2P software engineers at a tech conference in Washington, DC: "You have to empower the fringes if you are going to... be able to make decisions faster than the bad guy".[4] Wardell indicated he was looking for P2P experts to join his engineering effort. In May, 2003 Dr. Tether. Director of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency testified that U.S. Military is using P2P networks. Due to security reasons, details are kept classified.

* Business: P2P networks have already been used in business areas, but it is still in the beginning stages. Currently, Kato et al.’s studies indicate over 200 companies with approximately $400 million USD are investing in P2P network. Besides File Sharing, companies are also interested in Distributing Computing, Content Distribution, e-marketplace, Distributed Search engines, Groupware and Office Automation via P2P networks. There are several reasons why companies prefer P2P sometimes, such as: Server space and bandwidth saving; Real-time collaboration—a server cannot scale well with increasing volume of content; a process which requires strong computing power; a process which needs high-speed communications, etc. At the same time, P2P is not fully used as it still faces a lot of security issues. Several non-profit projects, like many Linux distributions, use P2P to save humongous amounts of bandwidth on downloads as heavy as CDs and DVDs.

* TV: Quite a few applications available to delivery TV content over a P2P network (P2PTV)

* Telecommunication: Nowadays, people are not just satisfied with “can hear a person from another side of the earth”, instead, the demands of clearer voice in real-time are increasing globally. Just like the TV network, there are already cables in place, and it's not very likely for companies to change all the cables. Many of them turn to use the internet, more specifically P2P networks. For instance, Skype, one of the most widely used internet phone applications is using P2P technology. Furthermore, many research organizations are trying to apply P2P networks to cellular networks.

* Web portals: P2P networks could be used to distribute the data of a blog or forum between all its users. An example is Osiris (Serverless Portal System) which allows its users to create anonymous and autonomous web portals distributed via P2P network.

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: All network traffic is created equal, experts to tell CRTC - Page 3

alex_dm — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:18:38 -0000

The point I was trying to make is that there is already built in limits - the speed the ISP is providing through the pppoe (or similar) connection. This is a real limitation - regardless of what type of traffic. My point is that the ISP already locks down the speed to the "100km". There isn't a 150km, at no time can someone go faster than that regardless of the "protocal". If an ISP cannot provide the full bandwidth to a customer (or at least a reasonable ratio) then they are not servicing their customers in a responsible way. The reality is that p2p traffic IS legitimate network traffic (skype etc.) and is not going to go away. Having an ISP decide what is legit (I will allow skype and apple but not iptv or Bit torrent) is not the way to go - particularly with the gross violations of privacy inherent with this type of scanning. If an ISP does not have the bandwidth to provide adequate services they should advertise their connection as "1Mb continuous peaking at 5Mb" or similar.

Re: All network traffic is created equal, experts to tell CRTC - Page 3

alex_dm — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:26:36 -0000

ISP's are used to offering a set #Mb connection and in reality servicing much less, mostly because the majority of customers will not use the connection to it's full potential. This would be the equivalent of selling a car which can travel on the highway at 100km/hr but expect all drivers to only drive 30km/hr because the majority of users usually only travel at that speed in the slow lane.

Over the years ISP's have used connection speed as a "selling" number without necessarily being able to technically provide the service. Now as people are actually using the service at it's full potential they are complaining that it is effecting their bottom line. In some ways this is a case of sales misrepresentation.

Layer 7 filtering is a "hidden" tool that allows ISP's to choose who to discriminate against and choose which customers to throttle in an active way, keeping the large majority of their customers traveling in the slow lane happy in their ignorance. This is discriminating against customers who desire to use what they pay for.

Filtering in this manner is also a violation of privacy due to the invasive nature of the technology. Examining packages in this fashion is looking at the actual data that is passing across the network. This would be the equivalent of forcing a police officer to travel in your car at all times to make sure that if you are traveling at 100Km/hr that you only do it for short periods of time and if you press on the gas too long, deciding whether or not to stop you because of the reason you are going at full speed. Not only is this very invasive, but also open to all sorts of potential abuse.

Cheeseman clearly likes the fact that he can misrepresent his product to his customers and then exploit the situation to his advantage. If his network can only sustain a specific amount of bandwidth, he should only sell that specific amount or invest in the tools to truly sell what he is offering.