Category Archives: ISPs
Announcement: Working Paper on DPI Now Available
The abstract is below: Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are responsible for transmitting and delivering their customers’ data requests, ranging from requests for data from websites, to that from file-sharing applications, to that from participants in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) chat sessions. … After discussing the potency of contemporary packet inspection devices, in relation to their earlier packet inspection predecessors, and their potential uses in improving network operators’ network management systems, I argue that they should be identified as surveillance technologies that can potentially be incredibly invasive. Drawing on Canadian examples, I argue that Canadian ISPs are using DPI technologies to implicitly ‘teach’ their customers norms about what are ‘inappropriate’ data transfer programs, and the appropriate levels of ISP manipulation of consumer data traffic. Continue reading
Thoughts: Irish Newest Victims in the Copyright Wars
More substantially, I question Eircom’s ability to effectively identify particular individuals who are infringing on content; they can (likely) identify the home modems that are piping data to and from the ‘net, but a modem is not the same thing as the person who is committing infringement. … If many of the proposals to ‘fight piracy’ actually: (a) dealt with the sources of piracy; (b) didn’t have disproportionate effects on people’s lives, I think that I’d have fewer issues with how media corporations are trying to address infringements. Until the companies start using a scalpel do deal with problems (or we see a real reform in copyright law that ends the criminalization of the digital generation), it’s going to be almost impossible for digital natives, network neutrality advocates, privacy advocates, or ‘regular folk’ to support attempts to divorce citizens from the dominant communicative medium of the Western world. Continue reading
Draft: Public Comments for CRTC PN 2008-19
( Source ) I’m in the process of pulling together some privacy-related thoughts surrounding Canadian ISPs’ use of DPI equipment. I’ve posted an early draft of the document, and invite comments and thoughts. If you want to prepare your own comments, you’ve still got until February 23rd. Continue reading
Update: Associating Canadian ISPs with Anonymized Data Traffic Submissions
Responses to question 1 (b) show that the percentage of HTTP/Streaming traffic has increased, two companies report that the percentage of P2P traffic has increased and two report it has decreased slightly, UDP traffic has increased slightly, and the “Other” category now accounts for a smaller percentage of total traffic than in the first months measured. … For the top 5% of users, HTTP/Streaming has remained relatively constant, P2P use decreased for only one company, UDP traffic is up, and “Other” traffic has decreased for two of three companies. For the top 10% of users, HTTP/Streaming traffic makes up a higher percentage of total traffic, in all but one case P2P traffic represents a larger percentage of total traffic, UDP is up, and “Other” is down for two of three companies. Continue reading
