Google Wants To Help People Check Their Broadband Connection For Traffic Shaping

from the name-and-shame-is-the-game dept

Well, well, well... With Cox getting aggressive with traffic shaping, it looks like Google is trying to give users the tools to find out what their ISP is actually doing to their broadband connection. The company has teamed up with the New America Foundation and Planet Lab to offer a platform for tools to measure what's happening on internet connections. The obvious thinking: the easier it is for anyone to recognize that their broadband connection is being tinkered with, the more likely an outcry is raised, and the provider is pushed to back down (at least on the more egregious practices -- such as what eventually happened with Comcast's traffic shaping).

It will be interesting to see where this goes, or how useful it really becomes. Without meaningful competition in the broadband space, it seems like ISPs are willing to risk some consumer anger -- knowing they really don't have many other options. Still, it does suggest one more reason why specific net neutrality regulations may be premature. Let's see if providing more info along with open tools can help keep ISPs more reasonable in their network management practices.

28 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    the height of irony... .

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 1:38pm

    ... is that traffic shaping is stopping me from visiting these sites....

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    Google trying to make the Internet more transparent

    identicon
    Lenny Rachitsky, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 1:50pm

    The more open, neutral, and transparent the net is, the more successful everyone will be online, the bigger the web will get, and most importantly for Google...the more ad's they'll be able to serve.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  

    measurementlab.net seems to be down.

    identicon
    anon, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 1:56pm

    measurementlab.net seems to be down.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    The is not responding

    identicon
    Norm, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 1:59pm

    The site with the tools is http://www.measurementlab.net/

    It seems that this is a major concern to a lot of people, because these tools are a little overloaded. The site did not respond the first two times I tried it. When I actually got to one of the tools, the first out of 3 servers for the tool had an approx. 8 HOUR wait. The least busy server, the one I am queued in, has about 1.25 hour wait.

    wow.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  

    The site is not responding

    identicon
    Norm, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 2:02pm

    Fixed Subject

    Also, they are using java applets. They didn't load in Firefox, but that might just be my machine.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  

    Not Down

    identicon
    Clovenlife, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 2:03pm

    Just a bit overwhelmed. I got it with a bit of persistence

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 2:19pm

    So is MeasurmentLabs.net down, or does my ISP not want me visiting it

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  

    Very Nice

    identicon
    TPBer, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 2:39pm

    Just verified Time Warner is running clean, but I already suspected this.

    Not to get off of the subject, but I have noticed an increase of screeners on all torrent trackers, you gotta wonder if the studios are purposely putting these out there as promotional bait to increase theater "goership", that's a new word.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 3:27pm

    The bittorrent test is worthless, I know for a fact that Bell are throttling to 30kb/s (they announced publicly, and have experienced it) yet it claims my traffic is not shaped...

    I hope other tests are more reliable...

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  

    Still hammered

    icon
    ChurchHatesTucker (profile), Jan 28th, 2009 @ 5:36pm

    I can get the initial page, but nothing after that.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  

    Re: Google trying to make the Internet more transparent

    identicon
    Nate, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 5:47pm

    Well it just seems more and more like Google's interests and the consumers' interests overlap, doesn't it? Strange... Keep running those Google searches for our righteous benefactor! Hah...

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  

    Re: Very Nice

    identicon
    ToySouljah, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 6:34pm

    Nah, every year this happens around awards time since the studios have to release more screeners to judges for their consideration.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 28th, 2009 @ 8:28pm

    kodos Google for the effort, Power to the people!

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  

    Slashdotted

    icon
    Ben (profile), Jan 29th, 2009 @ 3:48am

    Unfortunately, most of the test sites seem to be flooded with activity... these tools have been mentioned on slashdot.org, need I say more?

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  15.  

    i am disapointed in TechDirt

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 29th, 2009 @ 4:55am

    i posted the link to google's anti-trafic shaping tool in ur article concerning cox trafic shaping.

    with he subject: google back in the game.

    now i see you have an article about it and my comment in http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090128/0123343551.shtml

    isn't there any more

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 29th, 2009 @ 7:31am

    So what if the ISP's are throttling? With no net neutrality laws, you can't do shit to them. And besides, with the government in their back pocket, even with laws they would be untouchable.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  17.  

    Re: i am disapointed in TechDirt

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 29th, 2009 @ 9:20am

    im really sry about this it seems i posted my comment in an other article plus it seems it was after you had mentioned it here.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  18.  
    identicon
    Michael Thomas, Jan 29th, 2009 @ 12:01pm

    Forget torrents the real problem throttling presents is to those of us who enjoy watching videos online. The truth is that some providers like Comcast are afraid at the real threat that sites like Hulu are posing as many customers are ditching cable subscriptions for online video. The amount of content online is larger and easier to search than cable... Top 20 Video Sites: http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/video-sites

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  19.  

    Throttling

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 30th, 2009 @ 6:19am

    Throttling isn't always bad. Cox 'claims' to only want to apply throttling against FTP/P2P/Bulk-transfers only during times of congestion. This is supposively so all that over-subscription don't lag your video-games/video-streams/latency-sensitive applications during peak hours.

    OMG QQ, I can't play my games at 5pm because of masssive lag

    OMG QQ, my p2p is slow around 5pm, but my games run fine

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  20.  

    won

    identicon
    ert, Aug 14th, 2010 @ 3:34pm

    dfgdf

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  21.  

    Travel Help

    identicon
    jerry philip, Aug 14th, 2010 @ 3:39pm

    Is traffic shaping has any danger because of using the broadband? Is it really?
    -------
    Travel Help

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  22.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Nov 23rd, 2010 @ 9:44pm

    We offer web marketing, Search Marketing solutions to UK businesses looking to promote their websites on the internet and through the search engines.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  23.  
    identicon
    james, Nov 29th, 2010 @ 11:34pm

    spy equipment - Whatever your reason for visiting our site, we want you to know that we are dedicated to providing you with the very latest in cutting-edge solutions to assist in resolving your issues.

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  24.  
    icon
    backspace (profile), Dec 8th, 2010 @ 9:16pm

    The obvious thinking: the easier it is for anyone to recognize that their broadband connection is being tinkered with, the more likely an outcry is raised, and the provider is pushed to back down (at least on the more egregious practices irs problems | income tax attorneys

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  25.  

    Google Wants To Help People Check Their Broadband Connection For Traffic Shaping

    identicon
    Kohhsamui, Dec 18th, 2010 @ 8:54pm

    Great ++

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  26.  

    Re: Google Wants To Help People Check Their Broadband Connection For Traffic Shaping

    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Dec 18th, 2010 @ 8:55pm

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  27.  
    identicon
    Sam Orton, Mar 30th, 2011 @ 11:17am

    Thats not very viable!

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  28.  
    identicon
    Sam Orton, Mar 30th, 2011 @ 11:20am

    Thats not very viable!

    reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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