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NormanS
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
 ·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to DoYouKnowMe
Re: Comcast is using Sandvine to manage P2P Connections
said by DoYouKnowMe  :While I feel your pain, since you are a residential customer (I am presuming), you are bound by the Terms Of Service agreement that was provided to you at time of sign-up and which is easily accessible through their website. A few key passages: ... "7. USE OF SERVICES You agree that the Services and the Comcast Equipment will be used only by you and the members of your immediate household living with you at the same address and only for personal, residential, non-commercial purposes, unless otherwise specifically authorized by us in writing. You will not use the Comcast Equipment at any time at an address other than the Premises without our prior written authorization. You agree and represent that you will not resell or permit another to resell the Services in whole or in part. You will not use or permit another to use the Comcast Equipment or the Service(s), directly or indirectly, for any unlawful purpose, including, but not limited to, in violation of any posted Comcast policy applicable to the Services. Use of the Comcast Equipment or Services for transmission, communications or storage of any information, data or material in violation of any U.S. federal, state or local regulation or law is prohibited. ... Now, they key point to the use of Sandvine, of which I have not confirmed due to lack of research ( I am lazy ), is pointed out in Section 7. A P2P connection requires you to "authorize" someone else to use the service... I suppose you could look at it that way, but...wouldn't that mean that I am authorizing my sister to use my AT&T service by giving her my 'pacbell.net' email address?
P2P is not "reselling" the service, nor is it "sharing" the connection. Talk about Google getting a free ride on Ed Whitacre's "pipes"! I guess Brian Robers thinks a lot like Ed Whitacre, in the end.
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Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum | |
DoYouKnowMe
join:2007-05-13
| reply to funchords
While I feel your pain, since you are a residential customer (I am presuming), you are bound by the Terms Of Service agreement that was provided to you at time of sign-up and which is easily accessible through their website. A few key passages:
"We may change our prices, fees, the Services and/or the terms and conditions of this Agreement in the future. Unless this Agreement or applicable law specifies otherwise, we will give you thirty (30) days prior Notice of any significant change to this Agreement. If you find the change unacceptable, you have the right to cancel your Service(s). However, if you continue to receive Service(s) after the end of the notice period (the "Effective Date") of the change, we will consider that you have accepted the changes. You may not modify this Agreement by making any typed, handwritten, or any other changes to it for any purpose."
"4. CHANGES TO SERVICES
Subject to applicable law, we have the right to change our Services, Comcast Equipment and rates or charges, at any time with or without notice. We also may rearrange, delete, add to or otherwise change programming or features or offerings contained in the Services, including but not limited to, content, functionality, hours of availability, customer equipment requirements, speed and upstream and downstream rate limitations. If we do give you notice, it may be provided on your monthly bill, as a bill insert, in a newspaper or other communication permitted under applicable law. If you find a change in the Service(s) unacceptable, you have the right to cancel your Service(s). However, if you continue to receive Service(s) after the change, this will constitute your acceptance of the change. Please take the time to read any notices of changes to the Service(s). We are not liable for failure to deliver any programming, services, features or offerings except as provided in Section 11e."
"7. USE OF SERVICES
You agree that the Services and the Comcast Equipment will be used only by you and the members of your immediate household living with you at the same address and only for personal, residential, non-commercial purposes, unless otherwise specifically authorized by us in writing. You will not use the Comcast Equipment at any time at an address other than the Premises without our prior written authorization. You agree and represent that you will not resell or permit another to resell the Services in whole or in part. You will not use or permit another to use the Comcast Equipment or the Service(s), directly or indirectly, for any unlawful purpose, including, but not limited to, in violation of any posted Comcast policy applicable to the Services. Use of the Comcast Equipment or Services for transmission, communications or storage of any information, data or material in violation of any U.S. federal, state or local regulation or law is prohibited.
You acknowledge that you are accepting this Agreement on behalf of all persons who use the Comcast Equipment and/or Services and that you shall have sole responsibility for ensuring that all other users understand and comply with the terms and conditions of this Agreement and any applicable Comcast policies including, but not limited to, acceptable use and privacy policies. You further acknowledge and agree that you shall be solely responsible for any transactions, including, without limitation, purchases made through or in connection with the Services. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Comcast and its affiliates, suppliers, and agents against all claims and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees) arising out of the use of the Services, the Comcast Equipment and/or the Customer Equipment or the breach of this Agreement or any of the applicable Comcast policies by you or any other user."
Now, they key point to the use of Sandvine, of which I have not confirmed due to lack of research ( I am lazy ), is pointed out in Section 7. A P2P connection requires you to "authorize" someone else to use the service for a potentially unlawful purpose. Not that any company wants to think that their customers are out to do wrong, but to physically track EVERY connection and monitor the connection's contents would: a)be an unlawful invasion of privacy, b)cost an enormous amount of money, c)create an undesirable product as all costs would be passed on to the consumer ( even higher monthly charges ) and cause bandwidth availability to drop ( slower speeds ).
Naturally, a company would seek to be proactive rather than reactive to a hot topic issue that is greatly influenced by one of their services, such as the use of P2P to violate copyrights or the proliferation of malicious software. The end results are an improved corporate image, which from what I understand, is something that Comcast REALLY, REALLY needs any way they can get it, and to hinder all the responsible subscribers who use the service legally.
In "short" (lol) blame the idiots out there who force ISP's to take this action or have them do you some "favors" | |
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