The Dark Lord of Broadband Tries to Fix Comcast's Image

It took him six weeks of short-burst sleuthing to reach his conclusion. In a detailed post on DSL Reports—a site for broadband enthusiasts—under his online name, funchords, Topolski laid out a case against his Internet service provider. Comcast appeared to be blocking file-sharing applications by creating fake data packets that interfered with trading sessions. The packets were cleverly disguised to look as if they were coming from the user, not the ISP. It was as if, in the middle of a phone call to a friend, Comcast got on the line and in the caller's own voice told the friend he was hanging up, while the caller simultaneously heard the same message in the friend's voice. The post generated some discussion but no response from Comcast. It did, however, catch the attention of an Associated Press reporter, who called Topolski to ask about duplicating the tests. Topolski was happy to help and tried to provide all the assistance he could, but he lost touch with the reporter after doctors told him that, in addition to anemia, he had a massive malignant tumor in his colon.

The Dark Lord of Broadband Tries to Fix Comcast's Image