[IP] P2P Fuels Global Bandwidth Binge

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

------- Original message -------
From: Mike Godwin  <mnemonic@well.com>
Sent: 15/4/'05,  5:37


Dear Dave,

I think it remains appropriate to be skeptical about CacheLogic's claims that BitTorrrent or other P2P applications are taking up 60-80 percent of all Internet 
bandwidth. Why?  Because their "studies" making such claims seem to be nothing more than press releases about their proprietary products that they hope to persu
ade ISPs and others to buy.  So far as I can tell, there has been no CacheLogic "study" in the sense that, say, a peer-reviewed journal would use the term. Nor 
does there seem to have been any independent verification of their claims about broadband usage.  Nor is their proprietary technology itself available for inspe
ction to determine whether their methodologies are sound.

Lots of folks here will remember that it was only a decade ago that Marty Rimm's "study" of Internet pornography "proved" that the great majority of Internet us
age, as measured by some metric or other, had to do with downloading porn.  Rimm's phony statistics (there does not seem to actually have been any "study" as su
ch) were reproduced uncritically in the press and elsewhere online.  One lesson to be drawn from that experience is that we all should be skeptical about CacheL
ogic's claims at least until both (a) their measuring technology is made available for public inspection and use and (b)  their statistical claims are presented
 in a way that makes them independently testable.


--Mike Godwin
Legal Director
Public Knowledge 


At 8:03 AM -0400 4/15/05, David Farber wrote:
>------ Forwarded Message
>From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
>Reply-To: <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
>Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 17:34:57 -0700
>To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@warpspeed.com>
>Subject: [Dewayne-Net] P2P Fuels Global Bandwidth Binge
>
>[Note:  Traffic on the Darknet continues to grow.  This article updates
>some of the stats from last July's study by CacheLogic.  In that study
>the estimate was p2p traffic was 2/3 of global Net traffic.  Now
>they're claiming its in the range of 60-80%.  This is simply
>astounding!  DLH]
>
>P2P Fuels Global Bandwidth Binge 
>By Joanna Glasner
>
>Story location: 
><http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,67202,00.html>
>


-- 
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The Godwin's Law Blog can be found at http://www.godwinslaw.org .
-----
Mike Godwin can be reached by phone at 202-518-0020 x 101.
The new edition of his book, CYBER RIGHTS, can be ordered at 
?http://www.panix.com/~mnemonic .
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