A Call to Arms: Azureus Asks Users to Help Analyze BitTorrent Throttling

Wants users of the popular BitTorrent client to install a plug-in that gathers intel about any ISP interference.

Yesterday I mention Project Gemini’s LiveCD which simplified the process by which people could determine whether or not their ISP is actively throttling their BitTorrent traffic.

Well, today the plot thickens with news that the Azureus developers are asking users of the BitTorrent client to install a simple software plug-in that works to "…gather information about potential interference with your Internet traffic."

From a blog posting:

Specifically, this small piece of software monitors your network connections and every ten minutes measures the number of interrupted connections (called “reset tcp connections”) and then displays the results to you. By selecting the “share results” check-box you can also share these results with our central server, which will enable us to then aggregate the results and compare them across ISPs. We encourage you to share your results with us!

Be assured that sharing this data with us does not involve disclosure of any of your personally identifiable information. We will aggregate the data and may talk about it or disclose it publicly, but no data about any specific user will be disclosed as part of this effort. The plug-in will have a negligible impact on your network usage.

If you are interested in participating in this research you need only download the plug-in from Sourceforge.net (which also helps us distribute the whole Vuze (Azureus) application)

It’s very easy and takes only a moment. Right now the plug-in only works on PCs, not Macs, but we are actively working on future versions. Vuze and Azureus users from all countries are welcome to participate. Alternatively, you can install the plug-in using the “Plug-In Wizard” built into our application. We also put a video on our site that shows you how to use the Plug-In Wizard. Finally, for those who are interested, we are working on a more advanced version of the plug-in. When it becomes available, we’ll let you know.

Thanks for helping with this important research. We hope that contributing more complete factual data to the traffic throttling debate will lead to a better Internet for everyone.

For more information about our FCC Petition, check out the live testimony of Vuze CEO Gilles BianRosa speaking before the FCC, our FCC Hub Page and FCC Channel.

Oh, and one more thing. If you want to discuss the plug-in, the FCC or traffic throttling, go to our forums and express yourself!

Thanks.

Jay Monahan
General Counsel
Vuze

I converted to uTorrent from Azureus myself long ago, but have now opted to switch back for a while to help with this cause against the "man." I urge others to do so as well.

[Howdy to E]

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4. FCC Gives Comcast 30 Days to Comply with Penalties for Throttling BitTorrent
5. Does network neutrality mean an end to BitTorrent throttling?