Comcast, which prevented the BitTorrent file sharing system from working properly on its network and lied about it, will now "work together" with BT as part of Comcast's reinvention, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Comcast ultimately confessed to interfering with the bandwidth-sucking protocol, but presented its misbehavior as a form of quality assurance and management— which was precisely the kind of network engineering newspeak that Network Neutrality nerds always said they'd end up excusing anticompetitive behavior with.
The new deal will have Comcast slowing traffic only for specific users who guzzle too much data, but they won't stop messing around with BT until the end of the year. BitTorrent will work to "optimize" its software to run more effectively on Comcast's network, which will be interesting to see in practice.
I keep thinking of what cellular networks are getting themselves into with these newfangled high-speed networks. Google offers no genuine results for "WiMax Bittorrent"," a phrase I'd like to see more of.
Comcast, BitTorrent To Work Together On Network Traffic [WSJ]
