Is blocking P2P good Blog Maverick thinks so

Interesting plea over at Blog Maverick today that ISP’s should be blocking P2P traffic, and for Comcast to hang in there and take a stand that P2P has no room on a consumer network. Most of the argument centers on the needs of the many users against the needs of the one heavy P2P user. While it makes sense at some level, it does not make sense at other levels. No disrespect to Blog Maverick, but there has to be a way to do things on bandwidth that you pay for, and while Comcast has been in trouble in the past for what they do to P2P traffic, the problem is when they go after other protocols and systems like Lotus Notes.

Does anyone really think its free ? That all the bandwidth consumed with content being distributed by P2P isn’t being paid for by someone ? That bandwidth is being paid for by consumers. Consumers who pay for personal, not commercial applications. When consumers provide their bandwidth to assist commercial applications, they are subsidizing those commercial applications which if it isn’t already, should be against an ISPs terms of service. Source: Blog Maverick

While interesting, and impassioned, there are commercial uses for P2P, Joost, Veoh and others. These are legal alternatives, not just blanket kill off a protocol. The problem is that the ISP’s have sold an “all you can eat”’ bandwidth package, meaning people will take that literally, all you can consume, including P2P traffic. When you sell a package, you have to take the good and bad that someone uses it for.

While the packet shaping issue continues to go through the courts, a more appropriate passionate plea is to use P2P wisely, or not use P2P at all. Consumers also need to know that the neat “all you can eat package” is not really all you can consume, Comcast has upper limits and will drop an account for continued heavy use.

Here is the more interesting part, if you have ever played MMORPG’s, ever streamed video (which you mention as a viable alternative), ever streamed music from your favorite radio station, ever watched a movie on line via netflix, or done anything else with a high rate of bandwidth usage, then other people’s bandwidth and use will suffer. But no one whines about them, as they have the perception of legitimacy, where P2P has a decided PR nightmare when it comes to that very issue, legitimacy.

The best plea, don’t use P2P, the worst plea is “Comcast keep the dragnet going, and don’t worry about catching a few dolphins”.