No Pirate Bay for Comcast Customers

Inevitable by Jaysyn · 2011-05-12 05:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

And so the building of the Comcast/NBC walled garden begins.

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There is a war going on for your mind.

Re:Inevitable by Seumas · 2011-05-12 05:44 · Score: 5, Insightful

It's a good thing we don't have revolving doors between corporations and the government committees that regulate them. Otherwise we might have FCC Commissioners working in the FCC and then being rewarded by employment by the companies they were regulating, like going to work for NBC/Comcast. Oh, oops.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/regulator-to-join-comcast-after-ok-of-nbc-deal/2011/05/11/AFSSl6zG_story.html
Re:Inevitable by MyFirstNameIsPaul · 2011-05-12 05:47 · Score: 5, Informative

Everyone may be jumping to conclusions:

Update: Comcast just got back to us reaffirming that it is not the cause of this issue. "We're not blocking PirateBay and reports online indicate users from several ISPs around the world are affected." As we originally mentioned we're seeing those reports too, and many of you in the poll below are showing this isn't necessarily a Comcast-specific thing. So the question remains: what kind of a thing is it?

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I once took an excursion to Reddit, and later HN. Unlimited up/down voting sucks when dealing with a hive-mind.
Re:Inevitable by Asklepius+M.D. · 2011-05-12 05:51 · Score: 5, Insightful

I'm confused. You say that net neutrality legislation is likely to make actions like the blocking of TPB happen, and yet it HAS happened in the current non-regulated environment. If that's true, it makes more sense to advocate for net neutrality which only has a possibility of promoting such events rather than advocating the status quo in which such events are guaranteed (have actually occurred). Of course there is the third option - that you have a brilliant alternative to net neutrality that will solve this dilemma, in which case please present your solution for peer review.

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He who would be a man, must be a nonconformist. -- Emerson
Re:Inevitable by eriklou · 2011-05-12 05:58 · Score: 2

Considering Comcast users are using proxies to patch the problem... Comcast has a history of saying oh no we don't do that, but in actuality they do.
Re:Inevitable by Andy+Dodd · 2011-05-12 06:17 · Score: 3, Insightful

It may be a generic unintentional routing failure. Proxies cause a different route to be used.
It's not like TPB is perfect - it was down for me for 2-3 days straight last a week or two ago (ISP is Time Warner RoadRunner) but has since returned

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Re:Inevitable by smelch · 2011-05-12 06:18 · Score: 2

Gee, the thing that gets around intentional blocking also gets around accidental blocking? I'm shocked!

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Re:Inevitable by Jafafa+Hots · 2011-05-12 06:52 · Score: 4, Informative

I just signed up with Comcast a month ago.
When I called to inquire about their service, I specifically asked if they had a bandwidth cap.
They LIED. I asked repeatedly in several ways just to make sure, because I'd heard that they did have a cap. I explained that I am a heavy user, download a lot, stream video, etc. I was repeatedly assured that there was NO limit on the amount of bandwidth you could use in a month.
The sales rep was not some uninformed contractor in another country, they were a Comcast employee right here in my town where Comcast has a headquarters.
Of course, I found out right away that they DO have a bandwidth cap, 250gb per month. My account page has a meter on it.
Never believe a thing these corporate persons say. Corporate persons are lying sociopaths.

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This space available.
Re:Inevitable by PopeRatzo · 2011-05-12 06:54 · Score: 5, Insightful

Yep. That's what happens when you have unconstitutional federal regulations

Why you filthy, lying, ignorant son of a bitch. You dare to claim that Comcast/NBC is blocking websites because of a government regulation instead of because of simple greed, trying to get people locked into their own sources of content?
"Net Neutrality", which is a government regulation is the only way to prevent stuff like this from happening. I'm betting you know all this.

The power to protect = the power to take away
Really? Did you make up that poetic little couplet yourself? You know goddamn well that if the internet is NOT protected, if they let the broadband providers into the content-providing business, if they let broadband providers decide which websites you can visit and which ones you can't, The Internet as you know it is going away for sure. You're going to lose the ability to choose whichever web site you view. When Comcast starts its own movie streaming website, you think they're still going to let customers go to Netflix and get the same speeds as their own service?
There are two possibilities here: 1) You are stupid and 2) you are stupid, dishonest and working to spread lies.

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You are welcome on my lawn.
Re:Inevitable by PopeRatzo · 2011-05-12 06:59 · Score: 2

t's not like TPB is perfect

Correct. I tried it myself after reading the article and I wasn't able to get TPB using my AT&T connection nor was I able to get it using my neighbor's unsecured router, which I believe is hooked into some satellite crap. It's possible this is not Comcast's doing.
However, it does not change the fact that Comcast should be broken up, that no broadband provider should be allowed to be in the content-providing business, and strong Net Neutrality rules need to be applied.
When Comcast starts blocking competitors' websites, it won't just be torrent trackers, it'll be a lot of sites that the people here enjoy. If Comcast decides to roll out it's own social media site, customers may very well find themselves blocked from Slashdot, especially is Slashdot runs stories demonstrating what a sleazy piece of shit Comcast/NBC/General Electric really is.

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You are welcome on my lawn.
Re:Inevitable by PopeRatzo · 2011-05-12 07:06 · Score: 3, Insightful

Don't bother, the anonymous troll you are responding to isn't looking for a discussion, he's here to spread lies and FUD about Net Neutrality, most likely as a astroturfer doing piece-work for the broadband provider lobby.
The thing that makes me think that he's a paid astroturfer instead of an ignorant troll is that his lies were very specific and exactly the opposite of the truth. You get his little message out and certain low-information citizens start repeating "Yeah, that awful Net Neutrality will give all the power to broadband providers to create a multi-tier Internet". It's the Fox News approach. Make the lie really really big and say it really really loud, over and over until the dumbfucks know it by heart and start thinking "It's gotta be true because they wouldn't be able to say it on TV if it weren't true, they'd get sued, right? So if nobody's suing Fox News, then everything they say must be the Truth!""

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You are welcome on my lawn.
Re:Inevitable by Jaysyn · 2011-05-12 07:49 · Score: 2

It's actually a false alarm as noted in the posts below. Oops.

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There is a war going on for your mind.
Re:Inevitable by gad_zuki! · 2011-05-12 07:51 · Score: 4, Informative

Tracert from Chicago comcast customer. (as image because of slashdot's lame lameness filter)
http://i.imgur.com/x26hd.jpg
Problem is in Sweden, not here.
Re:Inevitable by gad_zuki! · 2011-05-12 08:33 · Score: 4, Informative

I doubt it was an intentional lie. They're just incompetent, which is different.
I called a while ago and they told me no caps. I said I was certain they were wrong and asked them to ask their manager. The manager told me they had caps. As well as any lazy google search.
Sometimes its incompetence, not malice.
The nice thing about comcast is that Im not on any contract. So if they piss me off, out they go. No ETF or other BS. I dont have that freedom with dishnetwork, tmobile, or if I went with Uverse.
Re:Inevitable by anyGould · 2011-05-12 09:10 · Score: 5, Insightful

Of course, I found out right away that they DO have a bandwidth cap, 250gb per month. My account page has a meter on it.
So, did you call back and ask why your uncapped account has a cap? Pointing out that you did ask repeatedly and were assured there was no cap? Asking them to dig out the call recording (y'know, "for quality assurance purposes") to confirm that you were told that there was no cap?
Or, in short - did you actually do anything about it besides complaining here?
Re:Inevitable by paiute · 2011-05-12 10:02 · Score: 2

The blocking of TPB... is exactly what will happen with net neutrality.
War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.
Profit!

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Re:Inevitable by arth1 · 2011-05-12 10:17 · Score: 2

Your abusive attitude negates any valid points you may have made.
No, it doesn't. His attitude stinks, but that doesn't make his points any less valid. If you modify your view of what's a valid argument based on the tone people say it in, you have a serious problem. An attitude problem, in fact.
Re:Inevitable by ElBeano · 2011-05-12 10:38 · Score: 2

Your abusive attitude negates any valid points you may have made.
It detracts from the civility of the conversation and raises defensiveness, but it doesn't negate the validity of the argument
Re:Inevitable by grainofsand · 2011-05-12 12:37 · Score: 3, Informative

" The written contract (which you read and sign) overrules and verbal promises that a salesman or manager tells you."
Wrong, wrong and wrong. Those "verbal promises" are just as binding (in most US states and most other global common law jurisdictions) as the written / signed document.
And yes, I am a lawyer.

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A dream is good. A plan is better.
Re:Inevitable by cpu6502 · 2011-05-13 01:45 · Score: 2

Thanks. That's good to know.
So when Comcast told the poster, repeatedly, there are no caps then they should be Bound by that. Question - But how is a commoner supposed to make them obey what they claimed?

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More than Comcast by thesaint05 · 2011-05-12 05:24 · Score: 5, Informative

Engadget is reporting that it's not limited to Comcast. I'm on FIOS and I can confirm that it's unreachable as well.

It's not just Comcast by DanTheManMS · 2011-05-12 05:25 · Score: 5, Informative

Comcast already stated that they're not blocking TPB and that it's affecting other ISPs too.

Several Comcast users have written in to say they can't access the website, but we've also heard from at least one Virgin Media customer overseas and a Rogers customer in Canada who are also having problems accessing the site.

Further comments in that thread suggest that it might be a problem with the LAN on their end, perhaps a routing issue or something.

Re:It's not just Comcast by hedwards · 2011-05-12 05:33 · Score: 4, Interesting

I'd be surprised if Comcast was going to open themselves up to lawsuits like that. Since they haven't been filtering connections for infringing materials they haven't been liable for infringement. If they started to filter for materials and block sites for it without being ordered to do so by a court, they'd be opening themselves up to all sorts of liability.
Re:It's not just Comcast by MoonBuggy · 2011-05-12 05:41 · Score: 4, Insightful

Perhaps. Didn't Comcast claim not to be sending reset packets on P2P traffic, too, though? They don't exactly have goodwill to spare or a reputation for honesty.
Re:It's not just Comcast by timeOday · 2011-05-12 05:50 · Score: 2

IANAL, but every time this comes up, the conclusion seems to be that ISPs are not Common Carriers, and how they avoid liability for infringement is by complying with DMCA requests to do whatever purported copyright holders ask that they do.

Comast has allready sad by fredan · 2011-05-12 05:25 · Score: 4, Informative

that they don't block The Pirate Bay.

http://mailman.nanog.org/pipermail/nanog/2011-May/036088.html

Re:Comast has allready sad by Palmsie · 2011-05-12 05:27 · Score: 2, Insightful

Then this will be the first time Comcast has ever lied. >

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Carl Sagan quotes get you an automatic +5 on all posts.
Re:Comast has allready sad by Seumas · 2011-05-12 05:38 · Score: 4, Informative

Remember that one time (a year or two?) when they said they didn't throttle torrent traffic?
Re:Comast has allready sad by Anonymous Coward · 2011-05-12 05:48 · Score: 5, Insightful

Carl Sagan quotes get you an automatic +5 on all posts.
Time to put that to the test:
The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before. The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I'm down. This is one of many human frontiers which cannabis has helped me traverse. There also have been some art-related insights — I don't know whether they are true or false, but they were fun to formulate.
--Carl Sagan
Re:Comast has allready sad by Zibri · 2011-05-12 05:56 · Score: 5, Funny

Oh, let me try!
"The more you look like a samurai, the better your chances of survival."

Network Neutrality by Microlith · 2011-05-12 05:25 · Score: 2

So where are all those people claiming that network neutrality was a solution looking for a problem? Hmm?

This could be a glitch, or it could be real (probably real, Comcast doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt.) In either case, Comcast and all ISPs should be legally barred from looking at the data streams and destinations of their customers. Tier 2 telecommunications providers, just like the telephone companies have been for years on end.

Way to be slow on the draw by Rurik · 2011-05-12 05:27 · Score: 5, Informative

That was the news THIS MORNING. Then it was found that Pirate Bay couldn't be accessed by anyone. Web server died. It sounds like they segment traffic to certain web servers based on IP ranges for load-balancing, and the one for the Comcast group died. No big conspiracy here.

And why link to PCWorld? Who are they? TorrentFreak broke the news and continually updated it through the day. They should be cited:
http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-blocked-the-pirate-bay-110512/

Re:Way to be slow on the draw by Nemyst · 2011-05-12 05:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

Why? Because it's almost certain the "anonymous reader" happens to be staff at PC World, just like all those InfoWorld submissions that always come from staff there.
Re:Way to be slow on the draw by Hatta · 2011-05-12 05:33 · Score: 2

This is actually an improvement for /. Save your criticism for the dupe on Monday.

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Re:DNS or IP blocked? by Seumas · 2011-05-12 05:28 · Score: 4, Informative

No, it's blocked along the Comcast route somehow. Even using a non Comcast DNS server won't resolve and you can't ping the IP, either.

As of right now, they're up on a non-censored ISP by Animats · 2011-05-12 05:31 · Score: 3, Interesting

Did anybody check this? As of right now, thepiratebay.org's home page is up.

More importantly, Bitsavers, an archive or historical technical data,is down, and has been down for days. That site would be a major loss; they have copies of rare documents not available elsewhere. Anyone know what's going on there?

how is babby formed by MrEricSir · 2011-05-12 05:40 · Score: 3, Funny

That was the news THIS MORNING.

a mother in ar who had kill her three kids.

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There's no -1 for "I don't get it."

Re:DNS or IP blocked? by The+Moof · 2011-05-12 05:46 · Score: 5, Informative

It's neither. It appears TPB itself is having problems. There's a better article here -
http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-blocked-the-pirate-bay-110512/
which states

Update: After affecting only Comcast users for about 15 hours, The Pirate Bay seems to be inaccessible pretty much everywhere now. The Pirate Bay team is looking into it. (Update: one webserver died, should be back for most people who are not on Comcast now).

Doesn't surprise me by rjmx · 2011-05-12 05:48 · Score: 2

I can't get to ubuntuforums (nor a couple of other Ubuntu sites, although ubuntu.com is ok) from Comcast, but I can get to it quite happily from my phone via 3G and AT&T. It's not a DNS problem (IP address is the same), but one works and the other doesn't. Traceroutes have absolutley no IP addresses in common.
It's been this way for a few weeks now. I finally got around to complaining to Comcast a couple of days ago, answered the first ("have you turned your modem on?") reply with a traceroute, and got the same message back. I give up.
The moral? Never attribute to malice something that can be explained by sheer incompetence.

Re:Internet Censorship begins with Comcast by KingSkippus · 2011-05-12 05:48 · Score: 4, Insightful

...Except that Comcast is a goverment-established monopoly in many areas. Don't believe me? Try to get a fast upstream connection and set up your own networks for people to connect to. You will either be 1) immediately shut down by the government or 2) sued out of existence by the major network providers.

This just emphasizes YET AGAIN the importance of net neutrality laws. We absolutely, positively MUST force network providers to be just that--dumb pipes--and nothing more*.

*Unless you specifically ask them not to be; for example, I wouldn't be opposed to Comcast providing a premium "parent-friendly" tier of service where they agree to block sites for you if you want, or a "custom priority" tier where you can set up QoS settings to make sure traffic you deem important gets through, that kind of thing. Though I wouldn't subscribe to such services, it should be well within their rights to offer.

Re:Internet Censorship begins with Comcast by Script+Cat · 2011-05-12 05:50 · Score: 2

There practicing it with my property.

Re:Internet Censorship begins with Comcast by clang_jangle · 2011-05-12 05:50 · Score: 2

I'm sorry, but providers of public infrastructure do not have those "private property rights". IRL when you corner a market you also incur an obligation. Stop with the "this is what our purchased laws say we can get away with", already!

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Caveat Utilitor

Re:DNS or IP blocked? by Seumas · 2011-05-12 05:52 · Score: 3, Interesting

Yeah, I think we all jumped to the conclusion this morning -- but I do think it was understandable. Comcast's history. The nature of the problem as it arose as a Comcast-exclusive "outage" for many hours while everyone else reported it worked fine for them (and vpn/proxy access kept working) *and* that TPB initially said "it's not us - we're not doing anything that would cause this".

So everyone (me too) made a big leap in accusing Comcast of nefarious behavior, but given circumstances, it wasn't all that unreasonable.

Re:Internet Censorship begins with Comcast by Anonymous Coward · 2011-05-12 05:55 · Score: 2, Informative

Censorship can only be performed by a government.

This is a common misperception, but in fact censorship can be performed by anyone who has power over what another person sees, hears, or reads.

However, the First Amendment guarantees only apply to government. The Constitution has no power over private party censorship.

Re:Bitsavers by Ken_g6 · 2011-05-12 05:57 · Score: 3, Informative

Bitsavers has mirrors.
Web
bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de

computer-refuge.org/bitsavers

FTP

bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de

University of Kent

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Not Comcast by Skapare · 2011-05-12 06:10 · Score: 2

Comcast is not blocking this, at least for outbound packets. Maybe a lot of ISPs are blocking them incoming based on source addresses. But I think it is more likely a network issue at the piratpartiet.se end since I can reach thepiratebay.piratpartiet.se (194.14.56.29) but no further, from multiple ISPs.

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now we need to go OSS in diesel cars

Response from Tech Support by JMonty42 · 2011-05-12 06:17 · Score: 2

This is what level 1 Tech Support (probably in India) told me about the outtage: "PriscillaBCBU: Yes, we are receiving reports from the site inaccessible when using Comcast connection. Currently, we are already fixing it here in our end. Our network engineers are working on it as of this moment. PriscillaBCBU: The pirate bay issue is also a problem from other Internet service provider. We have been receiving reports that they also experience this issue and it is happening worldwide."

Re:Internet Censorship begins with Comcast by overlordofmu · 2011-05-12 06:30 · Score: 2

No actually Comcast is operating on Local Government property (roads) using a monopoly issued by the Government. There is no privacy or rights involved. It's all Government endorsed.

In fact your local government could revoke Comcast's monopoly and hand it to some other CATV provider (cox, cablevision, time-warner,etc) anytime it wishes.

What is this goverment issued monopoly status of which you speak? Exlcusive franchise agreements you say? Don't you realize that they were outlawed by the Telecommunication Act of 1996? Federal law makes them criminal and there hasn't been an exclusive cable franchise agreement in the United States of America for 15 years. Are you just repeating something you heard from a friend? Where did you get your "facts"?

Which of course is why comcast generously bribes the politicians.

>>>Censorship can only be performed by a government.

Or a monopoly (phone, cable, electricity utility) given the power BY the government to censor.

I am with you on the bribery point. I think the collusion of big business and goverment is reprehensible and rampant. I don't think anyone missed todays news about former FCC Chairperson Magaret Atwell Baker becoming a paid lobbyist for Comcast-NBC just four months after she was involved in approving their merger. That is digusting and yet we sit here and take it.

link: http://www.freepress.net/press-release/2011/5/11/free-press-blasts-comcast-fcc-merger

But, again, what monopoly are you talking about? Do you not have satellite and DSL as options where you live. And if not, how is that any fault of the cable company? You might as well have said that Magneto and his rogue mutants are to blame as both statments are pure fiction and demonstrably false.

The is a huge groupthink for hating the cable company. Unfortunately, many arguments for this hatred are misinformation, not fact. If the franchise agreement isn't exclusive, if there are phone, internet and TV competitors offering products/services in the same area then answer me this (and let me apologize in advance for the yelling): How in fucking hell is that a monopoly?

Re:Internet Censorship begins with Comcast by Steauengeglase · 2011-05-12 06:50 · Score: 2

If they are censoring sites (doesn't look like it at the moment), then yes, you are right. Comcast's service isn't a service that connects you to the internet, it is Comcast's "internet product". The farmer guarantees that his product is 100% cheese, except and only except when it is not cheese.

Re:I said it before and I'll say it again... by swb · 2011-05-12 08:51 · Score: 3, Insightful

When it comes to Hollywood and media, who do you think they support? The Democrats are deeply in bed with Hollywood.

Re:I said it before and I'll say it again... by eof · 2011-05-12 09:08 · Score: 2

There are a number of studies that indicate that a middle class squeeze has occurred in the US. http://inequality.org/inequality-data-statistics/ isn't a bad place to start for some aggregate results. I don't agree with some of the conclusions they draw, but their data seem to be in order.

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