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Setting the Record Straight on Tor

corporate.comcast.com

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Re: Setting the Record Straight on Tor

#21

Post by getsaf »

cmiller1 wrote: post #15
MBCook wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I'd never seen that. What an odd restriction.

Probably a restriction imposed by HBO because they have been so terrified of loosing their content into non-traditional outlets.

Definitely not this. HBO has written an app specifically for the Roku. As far as I can tell, Comcast is the only provider who disallows access to the Roku version of the app.

I can use the HBO Android app with Comcast just fine and push to a Chromecast, but not the Roku.

It's a ridiculous situation, Comcast is intentionally blocking Roku while HBO is embracing it.

Re: Setting the Record Straight on Tor

#22

Post by imacomputer2 »

opendais wrote: post #4

> Comcast doesn’t monitor our customer’s browser software, web surfing or online history. I'd take this as evidence they monitor every connection that isn't over http ... which happens to include VPNs and Tor. Otherwise, they would have just said "We do not monitor your internet connection except to gather aggregate statistics for billing purposes".

"Comcast doesn’t monitor our customer’s browser software, web surfing or online history." That would imply that they don't even have a log of what requests are passing through their system. I find that extremely hard to believe.

Re: Setting the Record Straight on Tor

#23

Post by opendais »

noonespecial wrote: post #3

Comcast likely cares very much if you run a Tor exit . They don't care at all (and probably can't even tell) if you just use the browser bundle. Someone was likely threatened with disconnection for the former. This is probably the source of the confusion.

Eh?

https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2011-June/02...

http://www.dailydot.com/politics/six-steps-nsa-attack-tor/

Yes they can tell if you use TOR. TOR is like a VPN, it can be detected but it doesn't tell the ISP what you are doing while you use it.

Re: Setting the Record Straight on Tor

#24

Post by nmjohn »

chippy wrote: post #7

Comcast seems to get negative press on reddit - at least as much as Netflix has positive. The site must be very easy for marketeers to game.

I normally would take a cynical approach and agree that gaming reddit is that easy.

But when my fairly conservative parents hate a company enough to desire government regulation against them... That company truly must be that horrible.

Re: Setting the Record Straight on Tor

#25

Post by jlivingood »

slg wrote: post #18
eli wrote: post #13

It's a little scary how quickly an unsourced and highly questionable story can spread when it feeds a popular narrative (in this case that Comcast is evil).

"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." ~ Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, Jonathan Swift, or some other person who said things good. Whoever said it, they said it before the dawn of the internet. What was once a figurative embellishment is now the literal truth. This story was almost everywhere on social media before any of the high level people at Comcast had the chance t…

Great quote!

Re: Setting the Record Straight on Tor

#26

Post by Monkeyget »

opendais wrote: post #23
noonespecial wrote: post #3

Comcast likely cares very much if you run a Tor exit . They don't care at all (and probably can't even tell) if you just use the browser bundle. Someone was likely threatened with disconnection for the former. This is probably the source of the confusion.

Eh? https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2011-June/02... http://www.dailydot.com/politics/six-steps-nsa-attack-tor/ Yes they can tell if you use TOR. TOR is like a VPN, it can be detected but it doesn't tell the ISP what you are doing while you use it.

They don't know what's going on if you are a user or an intermediate node.

If you are an exit node they see all the traffic in clear.

Re: Setting the Record Straight on Tor

#28

Post by Gregordinary »

chrisBob wrote: post #20
Gregordinary wrote: post #9

"Customers are free to use their Xfinity Internet service to visit any website, use any app, and so forth." Any app, but not on any device as I found out when I tried to activate HBO GO on a Roku. Apparently if Comcast is your ISP, you cannot use HBO GO on your Roku (or PS3 for that matter). EDIT: You can see what devices are supported here: http://www.hbogo.com/activate/

Sort of. Its important to note that there is a difference between what they restrict in the way of internet traffic, and what they sponsor in terms of allowing access to specific content over the internet. The services that you log into via your Comcast account (I use HBO Go, HGTV, NBC Live Extra...) are provided by an agreement between the content provider and the carrier. They aren't stopping you from using HBO Go…

That's a fair distinction.

I guess it's more that you cannot activate HBO Go on a Roku using your Comcast credentials as Comcast is not an option in that configuration. Not that they block the traffic or something.

I agree with the distinction, still just as irritated.

Re: Setting the Record Straight on Tor

#30

Post by opendais »

Monkeyget wrote: post #26
opendais wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh? https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2011-June/02... http://www.dailydot.com/politics/six-steps-nsa-attack-tor/ Yes they can tell if you use TOR. TOR is like a VPN, it can be detected but it doesn't tell the ISP what you are doing while you use it.

They don't know what's going on if you are a user or an intermediate node. If you are an exit node they see all the traffic in clear.

Sorry, I thought the context was clear. I was talking about an end user as described in the OP.

Yes, if its an exit node that is the case.

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