Posts Tagged: net neutrality

Like many of you, we’ve been following Netflix with great interest. We are subscribers. We are fans. We believe in the work that they are doing. And we support their effort to innovate and evolve digital distribution, in ways that are sustainable for creators, other rights-holders and fans. That said, we were surprised by some…

BitTorrent CEO Eric Klinker discusses the impact of distributed computing on Internet sustainability. Originally published in Harvard Business Review, March 22, 2013. An open, neutral Internet has been a force for sweeping social change: democratizing information, commerce, and access to jobs, triggering GDP growth and a rising standard of living. Our collective ability to equally…


Well. Interesting week. Google and Verizon claimed to have solved the Net Neutrality debate. But on whose behalf? True, these two iconic Internet brands deserve a seat at the table in determining the health and regulations of our global network’s backbone. Yet ultimately any compromises must be struck by the industry at large – with…

BitTorrent 7 Goes Stable


Fundamentally, BitTorrent is about creating a more efficient and open Internet. We believe that μTP, an updated BitTorrent protocol that makes efficient use of bandwidth while reducing network problems, is a critical component in continuing to drive that legacy forward. μTP is an enhanced BitTorrent transfer protocol that we introduced in our μTorrent client a…


BitTorrent was recently invited by the FCC to participate in a series of public workshops on broadband measurement. The most recent workshop was held last Wednesday and brought the group up to speed on the status of the various vendors of technology and equipment to be used. This effort is similar to efforts in the UK…


This week several tech companies and ISPs announced that they would form the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG) as a way to educate lawmakers on broadband management processes. The group said its mission is to “bring together engineers and other similar technical experts to develop consensus on broadband network management practices or other related technical…

As previously discussed on this blog, µTP is an upgraded lightweight BitTorrent protocol, introduced in v2 of our popular µTorrent client, that makes efficient use of bandwidth while reducing network problems. For the past several months we have been polishing our implementation of µTP in µTorrent, resulting in several minor upgrades of the client as we figure out how…


“One of the Internet’s greatest strengths–its unprecedented power to foster technological, economic, and social innovation–stems in significant part from the absence of any central controlling authority, either public or private. The FCC’s role, therefore should not involve regulating the Internet itself.” – FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, May 6, 2010 This week’s announcement from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski…

Visualizing µTP


We’ve spent a lot of time in recent posts talking about the benefits of µTP.  We’ve even talked a little bit about how it works here, though much more so in the various technical forums for the community.  But sometimes a picture is worth 2^^10 words and I think the graph below says it best. …

It’s Cold Up North


The CRTC released its long awaited decision last week on Network Neutrality in Canada and specifically set forth a framework for the continued use of Internet Traffic Management Practices (ITMPs), also known as throttling.  While the decision does not go as far as many consumer advocates would like, I believe it does provide a means…