Is BitTorrent blocked, throttled? Ask M-Lab
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- “Check this out Jon,” says frequent p2pnet poster Jazz in an email, pointing to a CNEt News story which goes »»»
Is your Internet provider interfering with your network traffic, and perhaps even running afoul of Net neutrality principles? Google and some like-minded folks believe they’ve come up with what amounts to an early warning system.
The idea behind the so-called Measurement Lab, or M-Lab, is that just about anyone interested in Internet regulation – including consumers, regulators, and content providers – could use more details about their network’s performance. Google, the Democratic Party-affiliated New America Foundation, and the PlanetLab Consortium (a university-business consortium devoted to next-generation networks) announced M-Lab on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, alarms go off whenever I see Google’s name on something because IMHO, theres a better than even chance it’ll be in some way connected to extending the company’s advertising reach and power, and in gaining access to private and personal data about people’s online surfing habits and inclinations.
Sorry, all you folks who adore Google, but, cynic that I am, that’s the way I see it. And that’s why I’m suspicious. I genuinely wish it were otherwise.
In this instance, the bells are ringing loudly for M-Lab, “an open, distributed server platform for researchers to deploy Internet measurement tools,” says the FAQ.
Measurement Lab (M-Lab), says CNet, is running three diagnostic tools for consumers to »»»
- Determine if BitTorrent is being blocked or throttled
- Diagnose problems that affect last-mile broadband networks
- Diagnose problems limiting speeds
It was founded by the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, the PlanetLab Consortium, Google and “academic researchers,” says Google.
Google is a sponsor of the Open Technology Institute, a charter member of PlanetLab, and Google boss Eric Schmidt is on the New America Foundation Board.
“M-Lab was developed in 2008 after Vint Cerf and others at Google initiated conversations with network researchers to learn more about challenges to the effective study of broadband networks,” it says
The “effective study of broadband networks,” eh? Verrry interesting, as Wolfgang used to say in Laugh-in.
“M-Lab is at the beginning of its development and is only a ‘proof of concept’,” it says, going on »»»
When announced, three tools will be available on three servers at one location, and the tools will only be able to support a limited number of simultaneous users. We intend to greatly expand the variety of tools and the servers, as well as support more users. A total of 36 servers will be deployed across 12 locations early in 2009, and we hope to roll out others soon after.
And »»»
As part of the “proof of concept” launch of M-Lab, Google is providing 36 servers in 12 locations and purchasing network connectivity for the platform. These servers will be rolled out over the course of early 2009. Google is also a sponsor of the Open Technology Institute as well as a charter member of PlanetLab, which helps support their work on M-Lab.
And »»»
Is this just about “net neutrality”?
Transparency has always been essential to the Internet’s success, and everyone can agree that Internet users deserve to be well-informed about what they’re getting when they sign up for broadband.
Stay tuned.
JN
CNet News – Google-backed tool detects Net filtering, blocking, January 28, 2009
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Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details.
January 29th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
wow. port 6883 75% slower than other ports how can the CRTC ignore this for so long?