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BitTorrent Users Seek Compensation from Comcast

torrentfreak.com — Comcast is facing a nationwide class action lawsuit for cutting off the BitTorrent traffic of their subscribers. The lawsuit aims to stop the misleading advertising used by Comcast, and to compensate BitTorrent users for the disruption to their service.

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  • cricketsymphony, on 07/23/2008, -21/+5rapidshare works
    • inspecality, on 07/23/2008, -3/+3fap and share
    • str1fe, on 07/23/2008, -2/+21There's a reason it has the nickname "*****"
    • cricketsymphony, on 07/23/2008, -8/+3am i just getting dugg down by fanboys
      or does someone honestly believe bittorrent's stereotyptical "1 seed & 20 leechers sharing @ 24KBps" connection is better than rapidshare's 240 GBps and 4.5 petabytes of storage?
    • GTRagnarok, on 07/23/2008, -1/+15Rapidshare is a dream with a premium account. Always max download speed and 50GB per 5 days? Hell yeah.

      But yeah, it sucks if you don't have an account.
    • cricketsymphony, on 07/23/2008, -3/+4agreed, GT. OP assumes you have a premium account.
    • theyt, on 07/23/2008, -4/+2rapidshare ftw. I always download at 1.2mb/s that is until my internet gets throttled.. ***** VIRGIN MEDIA
  • crapmatic, on 07/23/2008, -1/+89Oh boy, another one of those class action lawsuits. You know what that means -- a boatload of money for the attorneys and a $10 off Comcast coupon for the plebes.
    • ajb2015, on 07/23/2008, -1/+9...a free month of making up for all those things i couldn't get because my download speeds were so slow.
    • damonic, on 07/23/2008, -2/+2"The lawsuit aims to stop the misleading advertising used by Comcast..." So all this will accomplish is that Comcast will change the advertising and continue to throttle Bittorrent traffic. Woopee!
      • rnawky, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4FCC Stated they cannot. So that's not going to happen.
    • billbugger, on 07/23/2008, -0/+7Where do I signup?
    • maxgoedjen, on 07/23/2008, -0/+3Hey, at least Comcast is being penalized.
  • tomarocco, on 07/23/2008, -2/+43I'm a COX-sucker. Do I get compensated for those ***** Comcast seeds?
  • ImperialSoren, on 07/23/2008, -0/+535 mil? comcast pisses 5 million
    • allan17, on 07/23/2008, -0/+11Agreed, five million is a ***** joke compared to what most lawsuits ask for these days.
  • naszaklasa, on 07/23/2008, -3/+15And how is suing going to compensate for packets lost EXACTLY? Count it in movies you could have downloaded for free?

    • banmaster, on 07/23/2008, -0/+26Minimum wage x each hour of broken downloads x whateve the hell wierd formula the RIAA uses to claim that each pirated song is worth $750.
    • naszaklasa, on 07/23/2008, -0/+1Totally makes sense :) Not that I like the formula though...
    • unifex, on 07/23/2008, -2/+3How about counting it in CD's/DVD shipped internationally because I couldn't download my preferred linux distro through a legitimate distribution system?
    • CycloneTH, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1I think it has to do with loss of service. Comcast promises unlimited bandwidth, and since Bittorent users did not receive such service, perhaps a system will be put in place based upon the amount of time a user spent using substandard services. More likely they'll just give a flat return to everyone with a complaint, similar to the GTA: San Andreas settlement.
  • leetninja, on 07/23/2008, -6/+7I don't want to ran too much here but my compensation was getting rid of them and getting FiOS. Also, if you live in the NorthEast or New England area there is a guy named Kevin Casey who is the regional president of Comcast - he decided to not listen to me when I complained and brushed me aside. He used his lackey Arthur LaFonde to do this as well. Arthur is a classless jerk who doesnt care about anyone but himself. Maybe if enough volume gets turned up they will listen ... but there is plenty of volume but no one is responding ... maybe it is time for revolt ...
    • DGRules, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4I know I'll get slammed for this, but it's funny to see that supporters of a service mostly used to rip people off calling somebody a "classless jerk who doesn't care about anyone but himself."

      That said, I suppose Comcast shouldn't throttle traffic.
  • llorxela, on 07/23/2008, -1/+15only 5 mil.... the government should just break the monopoly apart like they did AT&T. But no that will never happen.
  • davidkeithjones, on 07/23/2008, -23/+6Suing because your illegal file downloads were disrupted? Only in America. Don't tell me legit files were cut off because we all know that BS.
    • Louis11, on 07/23/2008, -2/+16I've downloaded a few Linux Distributions through BitTorrent actually. Most distros are now offering torrent downloads :-P
    • peterjmag, on 07/23/2008, -2/+16To be fair, a good amount of the downloading and seeding I do is related to open source software (mostly Linux distributions). Not all of it mind you, but it was even more frustrating to have my legitimate torrents cut off. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
    • kdesu, on 07/23/2008, -0/+19They throttled my connection down a lot while downloading America's Army. Hardly an illegal download...
    • cawpin, on 07/23/2008, -0/+9Actually, the main reason I use bittorrent is for legit purposes, mainly Linux like the others.


      How the ***** is bittorrent not in the Digg or Firefox dictionary?
    • snatchmstr, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Look dildo, the point is not if the content was legal or not. It's a disruption of service that was paid for and denied by Comcast. More of a terms of use issue.
  • sandiegodude, on 07/23/2008, -0/+9class action lawsuit will win... Comcast pays millions to the lawyers (and like somebody said above, 10 dollar coupons for the masses) then proceeds to jack their prices up to foot the bill, although like somebody else said above, 5 million is a drop in the bucket for Comcast.

    I'm honestly more worried about Comcast responding to all of this by starting to charge by bytes transferred instead of "unlimited."
  • hkbebe1, on 07/23/2008, -4/+5ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
  • umbrellainabin, on 07/23/2008, -8/+54***** THE RIAA
    ***** THE MPAA
    ***** THE IFPI
    ***** THE BFI
    ***** VIACOM
    ***** COMCAST <
    ***** MEDIADEFENDER
    ***** AT&T
    ***** THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT
    ***** BUSH
    • cricketsymphony, on 07/23/2008, -9/+10all caps is not cruise-control for cool
      relax just a little bit
    • DestroyFascism, on 07/24/2008, -1/+5***** TELSTRA
      ***** OPTUS
    • insanebrain, on 07/24/2008, -2/+7***** ME (. .. if you're a girl)
    • Punjabdasher, on 07/24/2008, -2/+3***** THE MAN
      ***** GOOD WEED IS GOOD
    • forceuser, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2***** *****
    • widgetmaker, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3can I throw in
      ***** BT, Virgin, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse
      ***** BPI
      ***** ACTA (google it)
      ***** THE EU'S PROPOSED 3 STRIKE RULES
  • Stwo, on 07/23/2008, -15/+5This is like robbing a store and slipping on the freshly mopped floor, only to sue the store for your broken legs and other damages.
    • DiscoUnderpants, on 07/23/2008, -0/+9OK. Im not a Comcast customer(or in fact an American) but what disturbs me greatly about this is not the illegal downloading aspect. Its more the ISP futzing with TCP/IP standards(sending bogus RSTs packets) without informing their customers. If you want to stop people bittorrentling then fine... just dont go messing with the network standards.
    • Travelsonic, on 07/23/2008, -0/+7No it isn't, and anybody with half a brain can tell you that.
    • snatchmstr, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2This is like going into a store, buying something and realising later that you got screwed because you paid for something you weren't getting. In this case it is bandwith being shaped that is not in the terms of use contract.
  • SwedishNinja, on 07/23/2008, -15/+9"...and to compensate BitTorrent users for the disruption to their service."

    Am I the only one who laughed at this? Just the thought of thousands of Comcast subscribers demanding they be compensated because they couldn't download the Velvet Underground discography or the complete first season of Cheers for free without being throttled at 10KB/s.
    • krismanx, on 07/23/2008, -2/+3Velvet Underground ftw
    • fisherstudios, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7except there are legitimate uses for bit torrent. so your argument HOLDS NO WATER.

      go cry more noob.

      • SwedishNinja, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Sure, there are legitimate uses for marijuana too, but most of the time it is used illegally.
      • shadywasabi, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1And now it's being decriminalized/legalized all over the place.
  • Bunner007, on 07/23/2008, -4/+2Hmm... maybe I'll download a live feed of the trial... can anyone seed plz?
    • TalahRama, on 07/23/2008, -0/+12You clearly lack an understanding of how BitTorrent works.
    • DaHuuuuuudge, on 07/23/2008, -0/+6How could a live feed be in a torrent?
  • reversezer0, on 07/23/2008, -1/+17that's great! where do i sign up? my ratios are getting screwed up thanks to them.
  • NeoDreamer, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7SBC (AT&T) also cuts off torrent users. But you can lower your global connections to around 200 and they won't disconnect you every 10 minutes. This trick won't affect your downloading because their DSL is so slow that more connections wouldn't benefit you.
    • Netik09, on 07/23/2008, -0/+2I actually didn't have any problems with them. Maybe it depends on location.
  • blogosphear, on 07/23/2008, -11/+3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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  • eggballs, on 07/23/2008, -7/+2But... Cumcast cares!
  • SeanRoss, on 07/23/2008, -1/+8I'm switched from Comcast back to Verizon FiOS because of how bad Comcast was throttling my connection. I was supposed to have cable internet and was barely getting 56k peformance at one point.
  • trunkster, on 07/23/2008, -1/+6Forget the class action lawsuit, just stop ***** with bit torrent! That'll make me happy.
  • need4speed, on 07/23/2008, -6/+5when you can't pirate software off bittorrent due to speed throttle, you get to sue your isp.. god bless america!
    • unifex, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7Forget the pirated stuff. What about people legitimately using bittorrent to download files? There's a lot of us out there...
  • neFariou5, on 07/23/2008, -2/+95 Million? Digga please.
  • simonsayschunk, on 07/23/2008, -5/+3let me get my free movies BIAIIAIAIATCH
  • Yatti420, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3I hope the CRTC orders Rogers and Bell to stop screwing around with people's bit torrent aswell..
  • V1ncent, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Hopefully they'll go after COX cable next
    • bennett2, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1COX owns Comcast. They branched out to avoid a monopoly.
  • futureisours, on 07/24/2008, -0/+5These are vicious lies and aren't true. Comcast is Comcastic!
  • dupswapdrop, on 07/24/2008, -2/+1When is my coupon for ten dollars more of craptastic coming?
  • orlandorays, on 07/24/2008, -2/+1It would have cost them less just to upgrade their infrastructure instead of throttling Bittorrent users.
    • widgetmaker, on 07/24/2008, -0/+15mill +a few more million for legal fees and a few lost subscribers (who are probably unprofitable due to bandwidth use anyway) vs billions on upgrades.
      Did you go to your maths class in school?
  • zenulator, on 07/24/2008, -5/+0It's Cockmastic!
  • Punjabdasher, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1This makes me think- why the ***** is there no FiOS in the Bay Area? I'm stuck with Comcast's ***** service and even ***** customer support...
  • bennett2, on 07/24/2008, -2/+2I got the bundled deal from comcast so I am happy
  • thecatcantalk, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Comcast sucks sheeiot out of dead seagulls.

    $85/month for cable modem so badly oversold that it was slower than dial-up, for a large part of each day.

    Comcast will never get another penny out of me.
  • reformation, on 07/24/2008, -9/+2Boo Hoo! My ISP stopped me from stealing a movie!
    Grow up.
    • smashfest, on 07/24/2008, -2/+1Richard Branson?
    • snatchmstr, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Who said anything about stealing a movie? They are messing with paid for bandwith.
  • highps3, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1LOL pretty funny. They deserve it and I imagine they do have a pretty good case considering the recent ruling against them. Mark this as a big "whoops" on their part.
  •  

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