The Mac Observer

Skip navigational links

You're viewing an article in TMO's historic archive vault. Here, we've preserved the comments and how the site looked along with the article. Use this link to view the article on our current site:
EFF Develops New Software to Monitor ISP Net-Neutrality

EFF Develops New Software to Monitor ISP Net-Neutrality

by , 12:20 PM EDT, April 1st, 2008

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is developing software that will allow PC and Mac users to monitor an ISP's compliance with net-neutrality. Other groups are joining in.

"When you sign up for an Internet connection, you expect it to actually be an Internet connection. You expect that you can run whatever applications and protocols you choose over the link, or indeed that you can write your own software and run that," the announcement said.

"There is a disturbing trend, however, of ISPs stepping in to meddle with your communications, deciding that some applications and protocols are more suitable than others. Or deciding that they can inject advertisements into your queries for domain names, or your browser's exchanges with web sites. Or deciding that encrypted traffic should be throttled across the board."

The EFF page described the various methods for monitoring and evaluating traffic. Then there was a list of software, in development, by several organizations, that allows the customer to assess compliance.

The EFF's release is called pcapdiff. It's written in Python, and an EFF representative told TMO that it should run on a Mac. However, it does require some technical knowledge to exploit properly. The Gemini Project in Italy has a package that runs only on PCs. Again, if a Mac user is running Windows on an Intel system, it should work.

"Vuze, the company formed around the Azureus BitTorrent client, has released a plugin that counts the number of RST packets sent to your BT client. These statistics are interesting, but remember that there are legitimate RST packets, and the presence of TCP RSTs isn't evidence that they were spoofed by an intermediary," the EFF said. Azureus is written in Java, so the plug-in will probably work on a Mac the EFF said. The same goes for the MPI-SWS browser applet.

This may just the beginning of an emerging market for both Mac and PCs users. As the EFF stated, customers expect to get what they're paying for, unfettered Internet access. When many, many customers start to become armed with these tools, it will be more difficult for ISPs to deceptively manage Internet traffic for their own ends.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Comment on this Article

Comments are currently closed. Please email the author instead.


Recent Headlines - Updated July 6th

Fri, 10:29 AM
News - Apple Warns of Learning Interchange Security Breach
7:30 AM
News - Happy Fourth of July!
Thu, 6:07 PM
TMO Scoop - Psystar Moves to Drop Bankruptcy Ahead of Apple Legal Battle
5:37 PM
News - Uncomfirmed Reports Say Apple & Nvidia On The Outs
4:57 PM
News - Microsoft Sick Over Barf Ad
4:09 PM
Product News - KRK Ships R6 Passive Studio Monitor for Recording
3:45 PM
John Martellaro's Blog - Particle Debris (week ending 7/2)  Juiced, Joost and Goosed
3:12 PM
Product News - ExactScan 2 Pro Released
1:56 PM
Deal Brothers - Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive:  $324.00 Delivered
12:46 PM
TMO Appearances - TMO Appearances Jeff Gamet Shares iPhone Apps on MacJury
10:41 AM
Product News - Art Text 2.2 Adds New Templates, Layer Options [Updated]
10:04 AM
Hot Forum Topic - Deciphering Mac Sales

The Mac Observer Reader Specials

  • __________
  • Buy Stuff, Support TMO!
  • Podcast: Mac Geek Gab
  • Podcast: Apple Weekly Report
  • TMO on Twitter!