MetaFilter posts tagged with isp

Your ISP: "Sunlight is the best disinfectant"

spock — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:10:26 -0800

Wanna test if your ISP (or company or university) is blocking or throttling BitTorrent traffic? Want some tools to diagnose network problems in your "last mile" connection? Google to the rescue: M-Lab! Predictably, with the recent announcement and publicity, the servers are now getting hammered. So post this? You can help: Host a Glasnost server (tests for BitTorrent). *Results so far. Coming soon are apps to "Determine whether an ISP is giving some traffic a lower priority than other traffic" and "Determine whether an ISP is degrading the performance of a certain subset of users, applications, or destinations". Power to the People, bay-bee!

Canadian Songwriters propose $5 licence fee for P2P

tranquileye — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:17:57 -0800

A proposal for the monetization of the file sharing of music from the Songwriters and Recording Artists of Canada. "Most Canadians are aware that the Internet and mobile phone networks have become major sources of music. What they may not know is that songwriters and performers typically receive no compensation of any kind when their music is shared or illegally downloaded... We believe the time has come to put in place a reasonable and unobtrusive system of compensation for creators of music in regard to this popular and growing use of their work."

Keep your ISP off my Google!

Salmonberry — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:14:19 -0800

Rogers communications has started putting their own messages on the Google homepage. Rogers communications is one of Canada's main ISPs (as well as mobile phone and cable companies). They recently decided to place a message on their subscribers' Google homepage - and neither Google nor the users are happy about it. As Wired magazine writes, "Expect this development to become Exhibit A in the case for net neutrality legislation." The technology writer for the Globe and Mail doesn't feel it's such a huge violation, but it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Canadians have a very strong need for personal space, even on the internet. This week the government also had to back off attempts to impose American-style copyright laws up here, owing to the backlash from Canadians. I'll be curious to see how that plays out as well.

Tube Wars. Get your hose.

trinarian — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:07:31 -0800

Tube Wars: A new front opens as the IFPI [think global RIAA] threatens imminent legal war with ISP's.

Union Busting by Censorship

theora55 — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 08:05:40 -0800

Canadian phone company and ISP, Telus, has blocked access to the website of the striking union. Here's what Telus, the phone company/ISP, has to say.

broadband fiber municipal broadband

thedailygrowl — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 18:19:07 -0800

As dial-up internet access begins to fade, a fight is happening over the right of municipalities to install and run their own broadband Internet access networks. Various think tanks like the market oriented Heartland Institute and the community oriented Institute for Local Self Reliance have chimed in on the debate. Last week the Supreme Court ruled that cable companies do not have to provide "open access" to rival Internet providers. And down in Lafayette Louisiana, where the community will soon vote on whether to install a municipal Fiber to Home Network, some of the citizens decided to inject some humor into the issue by holding a film festival.

I'm naked under this burka...

rzklkng — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 07:33:18 -0800

They hate Flickr for it's Freedom. An ISP (and government controlled monopoly) in the United Arab Emirates has decided to ban access to Flickr for it's citizens, apparently due to the complaints of a couple of UAE expats in the UK and Canada. Of course, said blockage won't apply to them. Most interestingly, they blame the rest of the world's non-flesh-fearing photographers as opposed to their ISP (and by proxy their own oppressive government.) Now Flickr joins Skype, AtomFilms, Friendster, AOL, and anything from Israels top-level domain, as outlawed content and services in the UAE (related study here). Well, if they don't care, why should we? Via linkfilter.

Paternalism gone mad?

essexjan — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 02:35:51 -0800

US ISP Verizon decided late last year to block any email sent from outside the US. I thought the bounces I was getting from my Verizon contacts were glitches until I googled and found this.

The arrogance of Verizon is astonishing: "If it's really important you might want to make a phone call".

FBI adds to wiretap wish list

fluffycreature — Mon, 15 Mar 2004 06:59:08 -0800

Proposal to have companies rewire their networks to support easy wiretapping by police "A far-reaching proposal from the FBI, made public Friday, would require all broadband Internet providers, including cable modem and DSL companies, to rewire their networks to support easy wiretapping by police. The FBI's request to the Federal Communications Commission aims to give police ready access to any form of Internet-based communications. If approved as drafted, the proposal could dramatically expand the scope of the agency's wiretap powers, raise costs for cable broadband companies and complicate Internet product development." Read more about the FBI's proposal at Cnet.com. or MSNBC. But where is the actual proposal?

The Two Faces of AOL and Microsoft's Spam Policies

Pinwheel — Fri, 09 May 2003 09:08:17 -0800

Perhaps you've seen the new MSN commercials that use M$'s "spam-blocking" technology to support their ISP service. Maybe you've read fluff pieces like these, where AOL and Microsoft execs are allowed to wax poetic about their deep anti-spam convictions:

"'I get spam too, and I am as fed up with it as all of our members are,' AOL chief executive Jonathan F. Miller said yesterday." "'To help keep intruders at bay,' Microsoft said, "we must all do our part.'"

So what's this all about? "'AOL and Microsoft argue there is a place for legitimate unsolicited e-mail in the marketplace,' said Marc Berejka, Microsoft's senior director of public policy."

Irontom — Mon, 19 Aug 2002 06:42:51 -0800

Hosting Provider Bans RIAA - According to this press release, Information Wave Technologies will actively block all RIAA IP space because RIAA is intentionally seeking to invade customer networks / hosts to check for copyright violations. Additionally, they are going to deploy a "honeypot" system (simulates a GNUtella client sharing copyrighted material) in order to log requests for the files and correlate them with attempts to invade the host -- RIAA's stated plan to combate music piracy.

Maxor — Sat, 17 Aug 2002 10:03:46 -0800

This new RIAA lawsuit really frosts my cookies! I can't believe the Recording Industry Ass. of America has the balls to think they can censor the Internet, but they contend that "As a matter of fact, copyright itself was written into the Constitution before the Framers ever even got to the first 10 amendments." Therefore, the RIAA reserves for itself the right to determine which Internet websites you may view. Please discuss.

rotifer — Wed, 22 May 2002 13:11:50 -0800

Has anybody here done business with AIT? After several of their customers switched to our web hosting company with bizarre stories, I did a little research. These folks are a little over the top, including gun cabinets, razor wire and uniforms. They even claim to have security teams that physically hunt down spammers and such. All of this would be great if they took care of their customers. Or should I say cared for their customers.

jonmc — Tue, 16 Apr 2002 17:04:09 -0800

Matt Besser of the Upright Citizens Brigade has a home phone number one digit away from tech support for a major ISP. Rather than fight it or change the number he's decided have some fun with his clueless callers. If you've spent as much time doing tech support work as I have this is some good cathartic fun.This one is my favorite. (A few dirty words, so probably NOT work safe. Requires RealPlayer.

shecky57 — Wed, 10 Apr 2002 02:02:48 -0800

Time Warner/AOL to charge more for cable bandwidth hogs. No idea exactly what the bandwidth limits will be, but, according to this article, a tiered pricing structure is in the works. Grrr...

gleuschk — Fri, 05 Apr 2002 09:10:40 -0800

The ThreeRing Web Mapping project adds a dot to a blank canvas showing your geographic location (or that of your ISP, as best it can guess based on your IP address). They've also got a code snippet to put on your own site that automagically adds your visitors to the map. The US is already clearly defined, Europe is getting there, and Oceania is coming into view. (They've also got one of them Tag-Board thingies, which is painful to read for any length of time.)

mikhail — Wed, 20 Mar 2002 19:49:43 -0800

StarTrek.net is offering internet access (care of EarthLink), your own StarTrek.net email address with anti-spam service, and exclusive Star Trek content, as well as a few other "goodies", all for 21.95 USD a month. Destined to be huge, or will this fizzle and eventually disappear?

umberto — Tue, 19 Mar 2002 20:52:59 -0800

Does this actually throw any more responsibility onto ISPs? In PA they are now mandated to block child pornography. But only the kiddy porn the government already knows about. Which apparently anyone can get around, anyway. Noble attempt at eradicating a social scourge or pointless burdensome do-nothing legislation?

patricking — Thu, 20 Dec 2001 12:46:29 -0800

eek! at+t broadband cable units to be bought by comcast. this means chicago cable service will shift to its third owner in two years (at+t broadband having purchased prime cable just last year, and having just gotten cable modems back online from the excite@home failure two weeks ago). anyone have any clues about the ramifications of this purchase?

skallas — Wed, 28 Nov 2001 15:16:25 -0800

@Home pulling a Northpoint? Looks like excite@home might go dark on friday. I've gotten three emails from AT&T on this and this week looks like it might be it. I feet a great disturbance in the net, Like millions of voices cried out in terror, then were silenced."

hotdoughnutsnow — Wed, 07 Nov 2001 08:05:29 -0800

Dump broadband? *gasp* Well, according to this ZDNet article, it's a movement. With price hikes and a souring economy, some people can't justify the cost. Could you let it go?

Mick — Mon, 08 Oct 2001 07:15:07 -0800

Music biz wants tougher DMCA "If the RIAA gets its way, ISPs will be as guilty of copyright violation as their subscribers. "Because of the magnitude of the problem, ISPs can no longer be shielded from the wrath of the law," shrieked Rosen righteously."

sillygit — Tue, 31 Jul 2001 21:06:45 -0800

PacBell seeks to secure a monopoly Californians urged to contact the PUC to put the brakes on PacBell's plan to kill the independent ISP. Should they be allowed to take their toys and go home or be forced to share? And, what effect will this have on the future of tech companies if PacBell is able to lock out DSL competition?

joeclark — Tue, 17 Jul 2001 06:50:18 -0800

Surviving your ISP’s Darkest Hour Geoff Duncan: “I’m a somewhat extreme example of this group, since I not only do everything myself (all the way down to DNS), I create and sell custom online services to clients. So when my connection died, everything I do went with it.”

black8 — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 15:46:19 -0800

How to win friends and influence people! Metallica goes after Seattle ISP for copyright infringement. I got this link from a pal-has anyone else heard about it?