Professor polices traffic shaping

Attention ISPs. A Syracuse University professor and his team are on the lookout for traffic shaping. The group has developed tools to enable broadband subscribers to detect traffic shaping on their accounts as they use apps such as BitTorrent and Gnutella or use Flash video apps such as YouTube. Dubbed The Network is Aware, the project also maintains an interactive table that graphically depicts throttling activity by ISP. Ars Technica reports that according to that data, several ISPs—especially the cable companies–cut back dramatically on throttling after 2008, when the FCC ruled that throttling violated Net Neutrality guidelines. That decision was subsequently overturned, but the story doesn’t say if throttling has risen as a result. When the FCC published its Open Internet Order in the Federal Registry last month (blog: Net Neutrality debate set to re-heat), it set the stage for a whole new round of lawsuits about whether the FCC has the authority to impose such guidelines and about what does and doesn’t constitute a Net Neutrality violation. Traffic shaping is likely to be a key element of that debate, so we should expect to hear more about The Network is Aware moving forward, as various parties draw upon the data to support their views. The Network is Aware is supported by the National Science Foundation. But it’s not the first time a government agency has set out to gather evidence against traffic shapers. The FCC earlier this year organized a competition for researchers and software developers to create applications to provide information about the extent to which broadband providers were consistent with the open Internet (blog: FCC Open Internet Challenge attempts to put horse back in front of cart).