Verizon’s P4P Tech Makes Strong Case Against Net Neutrality
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing online is the flash point of the present political conflict surrounding net neutrality. The ball started rolling when Comcast allegedly started discriminating against users of BitTorrent, a popular P2P file sharing software. Either way, the real issue is P2P software has a bad reputation for facilitating software piracy.
Clogging the internet with large illegal file transfers is disagreeable on several levels. This is where the Internet Service Provider (ISP) network management comes in.
But it’s important to stress that P2P software offers unique advantages of efficiency . Like any tool, it’s how you use it. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Bit Torrent, it just happens to be a popular tool for nefarious activities.
That’s why Verizon’s new development, P4P technology, is such good news. The Statesman explains:
“The advance is an enhancement of peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, which provides Internet users with faster downloads by gathering up pieces of a large file from the computers of many users and then cobbling them together… Sending files with the new technique along faster, cheaper paths resulted in download speeds that were an average of 60 percent faster…”
What differentiates P2P from P4P? PCMAG points out, “P4P actually works to push file’s packets from within the ISP’s network, avoiding paying for the extra bandwidth needed to reach an Internet backbone.” Theoretically, it would be a managed form of file sharing from the ISP end. It’s performance without the piracy
Verizon’s P4P holds great potential, the kind of potential a government regulated net neutrality environment threatens to destroy.
Tags: BitTorrent, Comcast, P2P, P4P, Verison