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Comcast Allegedly Asking Customers to Stop Using Tor
An anonymous reader writes Comcast agents have reportedly contacted customers who use Tor and said their service can get terminated if they don't stop using Tor. According to Deep.Dot.Web, one of those calls included a Comcast customer service agent who allegedly called Tor an “illegal service.” The Comcast agent told the customer that such activity is against usage policies. The Comcast agent then allegedly told the customer: "Users who try to use anonymity, or cover themselves up on the internet, are usually doing things that aren’t so-to-speak legal. We have the right to terminate, fine, or suspend your account at anytime due to you violating the rules. Do you have any other questions? Thank you for contacting Comcast, have a great day."
Update: 09/15 18:38 GMT by S : Comcast has responded, saying they have no policy against Tor and don't care if people use it.
It is 2014 and anonymity is a crime, what country are we thinking of ?
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
They're not a utility - they damn well can terminate service for any reason.
It's the State of Comcast. They have no such niceties as "innocent until proven guilty". They can do whatever they want, because they own everybody who could possibly be effective in trying to do something about them. So let's let them swallow Time-Warner, too! All hail Comcast!
For now, hopefully that will change soon.
When you cant win, ad hominem.
Yeah, because who needs clean air, fresh water, safe food, safe working conditions, fair pay and other such "Big Government" regulations?
Anonymous Cowards generally receive no replies because you're a coward and I'm a bitch
Probably Comcast cares because NSA told them they should.
Quit spreading FUD. You know the difference between Big Government "regulating" the Internet and "Big Cable" controlling the Internet? With government, you can complain on Constitutional grounds if they infringe your rights. With Comcast, you're shit out of luck!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Wait, why is this modded 'Funny'? You really think that they won't do it? I'm really surprised that they aren't doing it right now.
Absence of proof != proof of absence.
They care because they are content owners/producers now (NBC).
If I want to pay my neighbor for mowing my lawn, why should the government get in the middle?
Because your neighbor may destroy your neighbor on the other side of the houses property. In which you violated that persons rights.
If I want to buy from comcast, I should have the right to do it if I please! I also have a right to terminate said contract whenever I please, and I can negotiate the price too.
Again because comcast is doing crap that affects others, outside of you, and currently the government is making it so you really can only chose them as it is, which if the problem.
If my neighbor wishes to die but she cannot kill herself, I could kill her provided we both agreed to!! It's our LIBERTARIAN RIGHT! If the cops find her dead, I should NOT be investigated. All I need to do is explain that we both had a VERBAL CONTRACT and that should be enough!
Yes officer she wanted me to kill her, and we had a verbal contract would be the get out of jail free card of every murderer. How would you punish criminals at all with that logic.
Cops shouldn't exist! Government shouldn't exist! I am a person and I should have the right to do anything I please with anyone, if we both wanted to.
And that is why cops exist. Without the cops and the government how do you determine if both parties wanted to do it.
Jesus. I don't understand the "extreme" libertarians like that. What will they do once they find out you can't really have a fair contract against a corporation (or anyone else) if there aren't laws or an arbitration system AKA "the judiciary system"?
ok now you lost me... I assume the entire post was sarcasm and you went out of your way to hide it until this part.
When you cant win, ad hominem.
I'll cut right to the chase. You allow the government to take over the ISP business, it will be regulated like in China. I'm very serious about that statement. Give it another 10 years-ish to boil that frog, but yes, that severe.
Life is not for the lazy.
The point he was trying to make is they charge you for a service call when the problem is with faulty equipment they own. It is then their responsibility to eat the labor and fuel costs to fix their problem.
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission says hi.
After all this, let them know you will continue using TOR, and sue them for breach of contract and intimidation if they go forth with their mischievous threats. You are allowed to use your internet connection according to their TOS, which does not bar TOR unless the FCC really let that slide.
This depends entirely on what they mean by "using TOR." Their AUP definitely prohibits you from running a server or providing internet services to anyone, so running a TOR node is very definitely against their AUP. You are not allowed to use their network for unlawful purposes or "which a reasonable person could deem to be unlawful." If a reasonable person thinks that TOR is used to obscure criminal behavior, then Comcast is free to terminate service. It's not necessary that you actually do anything unlawful, or that you ever be convicted of a crime - Comcast gets to determine whether your activities can be deemed unlawful.
I prefer to think this flap revolves around internal miscommunication. Someone pointed out that running a TOR node violates AUP; someone else heard that using TOR is a violation; the lowly tech is forced to come up with a reason that even connecting to TOR would be verboten. The notion that anyone with policy authority would really decide that all TOR traffic is illegal content is just hard to accept. Which, of course, makes it excellent clickbait.
Users who try to use anonymity, or cover themselves up on the internet, are usually doing things that aren’t so-to-speak legal.
Dear Comcast,
I notice that your customer list, vendor list, inter-company agreements, and engineering drawings are concealed. Why are you committing illegal acts?
~Loyal
I aim to misbehave.
A VPN? That's hiding internet traffic from them, which is precisely their problem with Tor.