Google exposes ISPs' dirty tricks

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 29 Jan 2009 at 09:27

Google has helped launch a new internet service that allows people to see if their broadband provider is throttling their connection.

Measurement Lab provides a series of online diagnostic tools that detect problems with a connection.

The site currently offers three services: a network diagnostics tool that detects problems that might affect the speed of a connection; a test to see whether BitTorrent traffic is being blocked or slowed by your ISP; and a network-path tool that detects problems in the "last mile" of a connection.

Forthcoming services will include a test that reveals whether your ISP is giving certain types of traffic (peer-to-peer traffic, say) a lower priority, while another will expose whether the provider is handicapping specific applications.

The Measurement Lab is a partnership between Google and academia, with the internet giant providing the server infrastructure. Google has provided 36 servers in 12 locations in the US and Europe.

Google says the service will help lift the lid on traffic management, a subject that many ISPs refuse to discuss publicly. "No matter your views on net neutrality and ISP network management practices, everyone can agree that internet users deserve to be well-informed about what they're getting when they sign up for broadband, and good data is the bedrock of sound policy," the company's internet evangelist, Vint Cerf claims.

"Transparency has always been crucial to the success of the internet, and, by advancing network research in this area, M-Lab aims to help sustain a healthy, innovative internet."

Google says it will make any data collected from the Measurement Lab available to the research community.