[tor-talk] Comcast looking for Tor traffic, contacting customers to threaten termination of service.

[Rick]

On 09/13/2014 06:42 PM, Roger Dingledine wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 13, 2014 at 03:35:56PM -0700, The Doctor wrote:
>> "Reports have surfaced that Comcast agents have contacted customers
>> using Tor and instructed them to stop using the browser or risk
>> termination of service. A Comcast agent named Jeremy allegedly called
>> Tor an ???illegal service.??? The Comcast agent told its customer that
>> such activity is against usage policies."
>>
>> http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/09/13/comcast-declares-war-tor/
>>
>> Think I'm going to ping my lawyer about this.
> This article confuses me.
>
> For example, it has this statement:
> "Because Tor Browser provides online anonymity to its users, only the
> ISP used along with it can ascertain what activity takes place on Tor."
> which sure makes it sound like the author thinks that the local ISP
> can learn what destinations you are visiting, which isn't (supposed to
> be) true.
>
> And then this statement:
> "Comcast has previously been blacklisted by the Tor project." sounds
> like maybe it's referring to
> https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/GoodBadISPs
> which a) has to do with recommended relay locations, and b) isn't
> really "the Tor Project", but I can understand how they'd be confused.
>
> That said, I guess part of the confusion here stems from a lack of
> transparency on Comcast's side, about what guidance they're giving their
> first-level helpdesk people. Is this two rogue underpaid undereducated
> employees who read an article about Tor and decided it should stop
> existing? Or is there some document that Comcast wrote? If the latter,
> can somebody get us a copy of it?
>
> Thanks,
> --Roger
>
If you factor the PinkMeth post here (earlier this week) into this it 
might make more sense. It's a firestorm and the locals want a head on a 
pike. The company is outside of Pittsburgh and owned by the girl's 
mother. Comcast is based in PA and effectively "family owned". Perhaps 
the mysterious "Jeremy" is on a mission from a higher power that's 
looking for any reason at all to bust your chops.
Circumstantial evidence at this point but I think this just might be 
vendetta-fueled.

Happy trails.
Rick