Always vocal about its stance in favor of net neutrality, Google has finally thrown down the gauntlet and declared that it is working on software tools that will enable users to detect whether their broadband connections are being manipulated by their ISPs. This was revealed by the Senior Policy Director for Google, Richard Whitt, who said this during a panel discussion at Santa Clara University.
According to Whitt, the idea is that customers at least be able to find out if they are being throttled, and then let their unhappiness be known to their ISPs. Not everyone agrees though. In a detailed post, Technology Consultant George Ou outlined how a single BitTorrent user can ruin the broadband experience [1] in a typical household.
For more on ISP throttling detection:
- check out this HotHardware article [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.formortals.com/Home/tabid/36/EntryID/57/Default.aspx
[2] http://www.hothardware.com/News/Google_To_Develop_ISP_Throttling_Detector/