File Sharers Whine About Comcast

J.J. Jackson* | November 22, 2007

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - A San Francisco Bay area subscriber to Comcast Corp.’s high-speed Internet service has sued the company, alleging it engages in unfair business practices by interfering with subscribers’ file sharing.

Subscriber Jon Hart based his claims on the results of an investigation by the Associated Press published last month that showed Philadelphia-based Comcast actively interferes with attempts some high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online.
Hart’s lead lawyer, Mark N. Todzo of San Francisco, said his client suspected before reading the AP report that Comcast was interfering with his Internet traffic.

“What the AP report did was just confirm to him that it wasn’t just him who was suffering from the problem,” Todzo said. “There was this confluence of events where everyone seemed to reach the same conclusion, which was that Comcast was engaging in this activity.”

Other users claimed they had seen interference with some file-sharing applications. Subsequent tests by the Electronic Frontier Foundation confirmed the AP’s tests, which showed that Comcast is causing software on both ends of a file-sharing link to believe the connection has been dropped.

A coalition of consumer groups and legal scholars formally asked the Federal Communications Commission early this month to make Comcast stop interfering with file sharing. Two of the groups also asked the FCC to fine Comcast $195,000 for every affected subscriber.

Uh, Mr. Todzo, if you don’t like the service why don’t you just switch? I know that swapping music or video over a dialup might be awfully slow and hinder your use of the internet for such services but Comcast does have a right to run their business as they see fit.

You could also always switch to Verizon or satellite.

So why sue? Are you that helpless? I’ve switched internet service providers about five times since I started using the net. It won’t kill you to considering the same as an option.

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