1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,800 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff Works dot com. Hello, everybody, 4 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,119 Speaker 1: welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polette and 5 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: I'm an editor here at how stuff Works dot com 6 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: and today I have with me as usual, senior writer 7 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. Hello, what are you doing stiffen sniffing? What 8 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: apparently the microphone Josh must have been in here? It 9 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:37,319 Speaker 1: smells like chips and fresca. Well then, um, I think 10 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: that was because we were going to talk about I 11 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: sp S sniffing packets. Let's say alright then, um, for 12 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: the uninitiated, a packet is a little piece of information, 13 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: a little piece of digital information in specific, and it's um. 14 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: It's essentially how the Internet gets information from one place 15 00:00:58,000 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: to another, breaks it down into little chunks, sort of 16 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: like you might freeze Charleston chew and whacket on the table. Um, 17 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: These little packets of information are going from server to 18 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: server to get from your computer to somewhere else. Why 19 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: are you looking at because I was thinking of Mike 20 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: TV from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that's a 21 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: better analogy. Tiny tiny bits, sends it through the air, 22 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: and then it gets magically put back together on the 23 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,960 Speaker 1: other side. It's not magic. I'm just joking about that obviously. Um. 24 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: And you don't have to stretch it out at the end. No, 25 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: But every packet has essentially three three different sections. You 26 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: have a header, and then the header is sort of 27 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,119 Speaker 1: the information about the packet itself, like where it fits 28 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: within the grand scheme of the information um, the origin 29 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 1: from the origin computer and the destination computer. You know, 30 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: it's kind of like all the the administrative stuff you 31 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: need in order to send information from one place to another. 32 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: Then you have the payload. The payload is the part 33 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 1: of the packet that actually holds the information you want 34 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 1: to send. So let's say an email, that would be 35 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: the part that would hold part of that email. And 36 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: then the footer, which essentially tells the computer, hey, this 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: is the end of the packet. Um. So you send 38 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:10,920 Speaker 1: enough of these packets together, it's like putting a puzzle together. 39 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: You get all these different headers and that tells you 40 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: where everything belongs, and the computer puts it all together 41 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,959 Speaker 1: and then you get the email on the other side. Yep, 42 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: and Uh. The thing is, there have been rumors, some 43 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: of them quite substantial, um, that your internet service provider, 44 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: or at least some Internet service providers, are sniffing packets 45 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 1: now sniffing in this case, they're not actually you know, 46 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: walking up to the computer and inhaling sharply like like 47 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: Chris and I are. Um. They what they're doing is 48 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: they're they're using special software to look at the information 49 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: that is inside these packets and uh, and it can 50 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,079 Speaker 1: also put this stuff together so I can figure out 51 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: what it is that's going across the networks. Now, if 52 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: you're an Internet service provider, you can essentially see everything 53 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: that's going across your network. I mean you you have 54 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: that capability of see, of of looking in and saying 55 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,639 Speaker 1: at any particular time and saying, okay, what's going across 56 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: right now? And you can see where the traffic is heaviest. 57 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: And you know, there there's some legitimate reasons for doing this. 58 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,079 Speaker 1: It's not all you know, cloak and dagger espionage. Someone's 59 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: spying on my information kind of stuff. But the problem 60 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 1: is there also is this cloak and dagger element that 61 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: goes along with it. And that's where objections are are 62 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: popping up all over the place. That's true. Um, you know, 63 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: from the I s P S point of view, Uh, 64 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: the I s P ight want to do some uh 65 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: you know, packet sniffing to ensure that they're not their 66 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: network isn't being misused. Um. You know, you might have, 67 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: for example, someone downloading a movie via bit torrent. Okay, 68 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: take away the legal aspects of it. If you have 69 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: somebody who's downloading a bunch of movies via bit torrent, 70 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: that person is using a whole lot of bandwidth, and 71 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: if your bandwidth is split up among say we'll make 72 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: it will pretend it's a small I s P thirty 73 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: customers and one person is taking up the majority of 74 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: the band with You might be kind of concerned, especially 75 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: if your other customers start calling in and going, hey, 76 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: I just don't I don't know, I'm not getting any throughput. 77 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: The latency is terrible. What's going on with this? You 78 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: might say, well, you know what, I have an idea 79 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:20,039 Speaker 1: what might be going on with this? You might say, look, 80 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: you know, Charlie, you're gonna have to stop downloading all 81 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: these movies. UM. Now that's where the legal stuff starts 82 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:29,920 Speaker 1: getting in, because you know, the r I a A, 83 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: the Recording Industry Association of America, and the Motion Picture 84 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: Association of America. Yes, they have a different interest in 85 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: wanting to know who's downloading what and when. Yeah, chances 86 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: are if you're listening to this podcast, you at least 87 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 1: have some knowledge about what we're talking about here, because 88 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: it's not like the r I A and the m 89 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: b a A have been particularly secretive about this. Um. 90 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: They might have even sued you. Example, you may very 91 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 1: well have been one of the people they sued. Um. 92 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: They're they're quite serious about stopping piracy as any way 93 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: they can, including all the wrong ones. Um. And and 94 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: you know, I say that kind of lightly, but it 95 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: really is true. They tend to use a club to 96 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 1: to attack a nap um. There's even debate among a 97 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 1: lot of people. I'm sure pirates are among them. Uh 98 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: that you know, the the quote unquote damage being done 99 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: by this piracy issue is so minuscule in comparison to 100 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:32,159 Speaker 1: the uh the retribution meet it out by these groups 101 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: that it's absolutely ridiculous. I'm not gonna throw my hat 102 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 1: into that ring because that's just a that's that's too 103 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,800 Speaker 1: thorny even for me. Yeah, I'm stunned. Well, maybe it'll 104 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:46,840 Speaker 1: be a blog post in the future. But the the 105 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: important thing here is that these organizations have a lot 106 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: of clout. I mean, first of all, they have tons 107 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:57,920 Speaker 1: and tons of money, and they are representing the recording 108 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: industry and the movie industry, right, and uh, they have 109 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: a lot of Uh. When I say cloud, i'm talking 110 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 1: political cloud. They can they're very influential. I mean, these 111 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: are huge industries, and uh, there are a lot of 112 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 1: politicians who listened to them, and they're very highly paid lobbyists. 113 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 1: So yeah, they're paid to talk to politicians, or they're 114 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: paying people to talk to politicians on their behalf. At 115 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:25,159 Speaker 1: any rate, what's happening here is that you've got politicians 116 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:28,680 Speaker 1: who here, hey, we need to stop this. It's it's 117 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 1: ruining our industry. We can't control it. And uh, and 118 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: so they start looking for ways to stop piracy that 119 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 1: could affect you, even if you're not, um misbehaving at all. Yeah, 120 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 1: it's funny that you would say that, because I actually 121 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:47,839 Speaker 1: have an example of something that that was just in 122 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 1: the news about that UM and it wasn't in in 123 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,160 Speaker 1: the mainstream media, or at least not a lot of it. 124 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: So I actually have an article from the Guardian, um 125 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:02,159 Speaker 1: in which they were saying that California and Democratic Senator 126 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: Diane Feinstein was having language added to the stimulus package 127 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: that was just passed not too long ago. Um. And 128 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: essentially it was theoretically it was supposed to add uh 129 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: packets sniffing properties to the language. And you might say, well, 130 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: what's going on with that? Well, the idea was, Um, 131 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: it was it was for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. 132 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: It's six to nine billion uh dollar part of the 133 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: stimulus package, and it was originally aimed to build out 134 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: broadband networks in less served areas well. She wanted to 135 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 1: add language that would allow them to sniff packets or 136 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 1: would force I sp s T sniff packets for child 137 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: pornography and copyright infringement. Um. And uh, you know this, 138 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: this was in the Guardian and apparently, UM, when I 139 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,240 Speaker 1: did a little bit of follow up research on it, 140 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: it doesn't appear to have actually made it in. Uh. 141 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: They were attempting to add it in, but it didn't 142 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,160 Speaker 1: actually go in pretty sneak way past it. But the thing, well, 143 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: the thing is, you know some people were saying that 144 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: the m P a a had uh. Senator fine Stein's here. 145 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: Of course, I have no way of knowing that for 146 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 1: certain um, but you know, it does go with what 147 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: you were saying a moment ago about how um you 148 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: know they have so much political cloud. Well, you know, 149 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: she has a California senator, and those industries are very 150 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:28,560 Speaker 1: very strong in California. So um, and it's conceivable that 151 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: they may have been suggesting to her that that this 152 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: language was added into the bill. However, it didn't seem 153 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: to make it into the law. And Chris mentioned earlier 154 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: the whole thing about Torrance. Torrent is not necessarily illegal 155 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 1: um to a method of peer to peer sharing, and 156 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: it's there's nothing illegal about sharing files especially. I mean, 157 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: if you've got the right to share those, then that's 158 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: perfectly fine. There's nothing stopping you if it's all you know, 159 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: if it's all in public domain or shareware, or if 160 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: it's yours and you don't mind, that's cool. Yeah, I mean, 161 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: this is a This is one of those things where 162 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:10,319 Speaker 1: it's not the technology that's illegal. The technology is perfectly 163 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,080 Speaker 1: fine to to use to break down the information and 164 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: send it. As a matter of fact, it's very much 165 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:18,640 Speaker 1: like the Internet packet sharing. I mean it breaks a 166 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: file into pieces and distributes them. Um. But yeah, it 167 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: has nothing to do with what people are using technology 168 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 1: for exactly. Just like people can use the web to do, 169 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:34,439 Speaker 1: you know, to look at illicit material. That doesn't mean 170 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,120 Speaker 1: that's what the web is for. You know, it's it's possible. 171 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: Just like someone could use a I don't know, a 172 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: highway to make a fast getaway from a bank robbery. 173 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 1: That doesn't mean that's what the highways for. So of 174 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 1: course you're getting it getting now we're getting into the 175 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: area where I do throw my hat into the ring. 176 00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: But so here's the question. If if I s p 177 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:02,199 Speaker 1: s are forced or at least highly encouraged to sniff packets, 178 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: how can you tell? Um, Well, there are a couple 179 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: of different ways. There's some software out there that you 180 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 1: can run that at least lets you see kind of 181 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: what your I SP is up to. Some of it's 182 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 1: from our good friends over at a Google. Really yeah, 183 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: actually it's sort of a kind of a partnership with Google. Um. 184 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 1: There's a group called Measurement Lab, and Measurement Lab has 185 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:27,520 Speaker 1: several different programs you can download for free to kind 186 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:30,559 Speaker 1: of see what's going on on your Internet service provider. 187 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 1: One of them is called gloss nost Um, and gloss 188 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,040 Speaker 1: nost is a tool that tells you if bit torrent 189 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:43,679 Speaker 1: traffic is being blocked by your I s P a 190 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: bit torrent traffic. Yeah, why would why would bit torrent 191 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: traffic be blocked by your I s P? I mean 192 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,600 Speaker 1: if you're using I don't know, Comcast for example. Oh yeah, 193 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:55,600 Speaker 1: that was a good, good segue there. So Comcast got 194 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: a huge got egg on its face corporate face, uh, 195 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: quite a bit in the corporate egg over the last 196 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:06,840 Speaker 1: couple of years because they the company argued very strenuously 197 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 1: that it was not blocking any traffic um or anything 198 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: based upon the kind of traffic it was. So they 199 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,959 Speaker 1: were being accused of throttling, which means they're controlling how 200 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: much information can go through throttling a bit torrent traffic. 201 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: And they said no, no, we're not doing that. And 202 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: then it turned out yes, they were in fact doing 203 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: that and inserting fake packets into streams to disrupt disrupt 204 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:36,640 Speaker 1: traffic entirely. Right, So um, this was the FCC said 205 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,120 Speaker 1: this was a bad thing and that it violated net 206 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: neutrality and that Comcast was in violation of it and 207 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 1: needed to be fined. Comcast came back and said, you 208 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: know what, what gives you f c C the right 209 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: to do this? And the FCC said, we'll get back 210 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 1: to you on that, because, as it turns out, it's 211 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: not against the law. No one really has the authority. 212 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,319 Speaker 1: I mean, the Internet is a global thing. It grew 213 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: very organ anically, and we're getting to the point now 214 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 1: where it's grown faster than our way, our means of 215 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: administering it, and and and you know, being able to 216 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:15,199 Speaker 1: meet out justice or or detect injustice. I mean, who's 217 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 1: to say what's right and wrong? There's no ultimate authority. 218 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:23,079 Speaker 1: You can go to the loan Internet ranger, right, I 219 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: guess we could all go to Tim berners Lee. Of 220 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: course that's the Web, that's not the Internet. M vent surf. Wait, 221 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:31,719 Speaker 1: he's with Google. I think he would just say it 222 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: all it's all fair. Well, in which case, let's go 223 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,360 Speaker 1: for it. Well, you know that goes back. Comcast is 224 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:40,560 Speaker 1: basically saying, look, you know, people are using our network, 225 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: and we want to make sure that network resources are 226 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:46,240 Speaker 1: used fairly and everybody has a chance to you know, 227 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:50,840 Speaker 1: simpath the well of bandwidth, um you know. So that's 228 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:53,960 Speaker 1: been their argument, I think is saying, look, you know, 229 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: we're just trying to make sure that our services are 230 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:58,679 Speaker 1: okay for everybody to use. It's just that, uh, you know, 231 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: some people use a whole lot. And the problem is 232 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: that there there are a lot of people who say, 233 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,760 Speaker 1: you know what, there's no evidence that this BitTorrent use 234 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: is affecting the bandwidth of your network at all. Um, 235 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:12,080 Speaker 1: as far as we can tell, you're only doing it 236 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 1: because it happens to be a bit torrent. You're not 237 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: doing it for other kinds of content. So um, and 238 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:21,559 Speaker 1: the measurement lab tool only works for this this particular one. 239 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:23,960 Speaker 1: They there are others that are supposed to come out soon. 240 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 1: They are not out now. Um. But uh yeah, like 241 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:32,240 Speaker 1: uh def probe is supposed to determine if your I 242 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: s P is shuffling around certain kinds of traffic onto 243 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: a slower pipe, so you would be able to see 244 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: if your I s P says, you know what, this 245 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:43,320 Speaker 1: is not as important to us as this is. Let's uh, 246 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 1: you know what, Jimmy's just gonna have to wait an 247 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,559 Speaker 1: extra hour for that movie to download because Billy over 248 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,439 Speaker 1: here he needs to access our content. So let's put 249 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: him on the fast track and let's put Jimmy on 250 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: the slow track. Well, you're not supposed to do that, 251 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,880 Speaker 1: not at least according to the philosophy of net neutrality. UM, 252 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: everyone's supposed to kind of a level playing field. So 253 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:03,959 Speaker 1: this would let you tell see if your SP was 254 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 1: actually messing around with you. So for example, and I'm 255 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 1: not saying that they're doing this, I'm just thinking of 256 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 1: them again because I happen to know they have this service. 257 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: For example, Comcast has a service that's very much like 258 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:20,080 Speaker 1: Hulu's where you can download video content, watch shows live 259 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 1: or not live, but you know, streaming on the internet. 260 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 1: So for example, you might have you know, Steve trying 261 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: to watch a movie on Comcast service, and you know 262 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:35,120 Speaker 1: Jenny watching something on Hulu. They could slow down and 263 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: inhibit Jenny's traffic to give Steve's traffic priority because he's 264 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:41,560 Speaker 1: using their service and they want their service to look 265 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,120 Speaker 1: good or even not that they have been accused of that, 266 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: I'm just saying that's an example of how an I 267 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 1: SP might do that. They might even do it just 268 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:51,200 Speaker 1: so that they can convince Jenny that she really needs 269 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: to switch to Comcast instead of using Hulu entirely, again 270 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,200 Speaker 1: goes against the philosophy in that neutrality. UM. So yeah, 271 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 1: this is a this is a complicated issue. Now our 272 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: I SP sniffing packets probably without running this software, it's 273 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 1: impossible for me to say that if they're sniffing your 274 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,760 Speaker 1: packets are not. But um, there's a good chance. So 275 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:17,680 Speaker 1: there's nothing stopping them because I mean the FCC is 276 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 1: like the FCC complaint was all about throttling, right, not 277 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 1: about packet sniffing. UM. So you know, uh, for the 278 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:28,400 Speaker 1: answer of your question, is my I s P sniff 279 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: sniffing my packets? Uh? Probably? Yeah, that said, think about 280 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: all the people on your I s P. If you 281 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:42,080 Speaker 1: use a um, a very large I s P. Especially, UM, 282 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: you know, they're not gonna sit there and go through 283 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:48,440 Speaker 1: everybody's traffic because they honestly don't have time to UM 284 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:51,360 Speaker 1: and you know, especially in this economic climate, they don't 285 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,320 Speaker 1: have enough money to pay all the people it would 286 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:55,720 Speaker 1: take to read every packet. Yeah, they're they're not. They're 287 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: not looking at your emails necessarily to see what you're 288 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: sending to your high school crush or whatever. Um, they're 289 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 1: really looking for massive amounts of traffic and then wondering 290 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: what they should do about it without getting caught by 291 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: the FCC. No wait, I mean finding ways of making 292 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: sure they're bannedwidth usage stays nice and end level. You know, 293 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: this isn't the first time people have been talking about 294 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,720 Speaker 1: packet sniffing. This has been available for years and years, 295 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: and even in the early two thousand's, the FBI had 296 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 1: this UM, this implementation they wanted to run. We even 297 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:37,240 Speaker 1: have an article about it UM called Carnivore gipes and UM. Yeah. Anyway, 298 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 1: Carnivore was this thing that was essentially a piece of 299 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 1: hardware that they wanted to install at I s p 300 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: S and UM. It would it would intercept messages and 301 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: uh you know, split them apart, look at the content 302 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: on one side, to look at general statistics on the other, 303 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: and basically they would be able to get a lot 304 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: of information about you and and about the traffic you 305 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: were sending in. I think it was it was seen 306 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: as a national security initiative. However, Uh, the title of 307 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: our article here at how stuff works is how Carnivore worked. 308 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: So it is not something that is in UM implementation now. 309 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,480 Speaker 1: But the packet sniffing technology has been around for you know, 310 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: many years now, so that's certainly not a new issue. Um. So, 311 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 1: well that's good. That was a good discussion about packet 312 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,960 Speaker 1: sniff you anything else to add to that. No, well, 313 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 1: you know what that means. It's time for listener mail. 314 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: Oh my, okay, so today's listening mail. My name is 315 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: John Allen is Sorry, I'm totally mispronounced your last name, 316 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: John from Texas, and I think you should talk about 317 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,639 Speaker 1: the ongoing trial of the Pirate Day. I've been reading 318 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: up on it and find it to be really interesting 319 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:54,119 Speaker 1: how the movie industry is behaving. So what John's referring 320 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,960 Speaker 1: to kind of segways. You know, it works nicely with 321 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: the packets sniffing, does you think I think it's very 322 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: funny that you have that you choose that particular emails 323 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:04,400 Speaker 1: to read on this particular podcast. Dolly, let's just say 324 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,760 Speaker 1: that isn't chance Grant. So. Pirate Bay is one of 325 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: those torrent tracking services we were kind of talking about before. 326 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,719 Speaker 1: Now here's the important thing to keep in mind. Pirate 327 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: Bay does not host files, right, It provides a tracking 328 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 1: service for torrans, So it's kind of like a search engine. 329 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:26,240 Speaker 1: Specifically for Torrance. So say you want to find a 330 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 1: copy of a public domain UM program that's out there somewhere, 331 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 1: and you go on pirate Bay and you search for it, 332 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:36,720 Speaker 1: and you find that there are copies out there by 333 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:39,919 Speaker 1: other pirate Bay users. You could download the torrent that way, 334 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:41,919 Speaker 1: and you would actually download bits and pieces from all 335 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:44,600 Speaker 1: these different users until you had your own copy, And 336 00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:47,480 Speaker 1: if you chose, you could also participate so that other 337 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:49,840 Speaker 1: users who would search for this file in the future 338 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 1: could also get hold of it. Or you could use 339 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,840 Speaker 1: it to download movies and music that are copy under 340 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,480 Speaker 1: copyright and you're violating the law and your a dirty, 341 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: dirty pirate. But except those are the dirty, dirty pirates 342 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: who are not being prosecuted right now. That's exactly right. 343 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: The users aren't the ones being prosecuted. It's the pirate 344 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:14,360 Speaker 1: bay itself. Now. Pirate Base servers are all in Sweden. 345 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,159 Speaker 1: And it turns out the United States government pressured the 346 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 1: Swedish government quite a bit to UM to go after 347 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: the pirate Bay and prosecute them, and uh. Eventually the 348 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: Swedish government capitulated and they brought a case against pirate 349 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,639 Speaker 1: bay UM. There were two different major kinds of charges. 350 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:38,720 Speaker 1: There was the let's see, was it assisting copyright infringement charges? 351 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 1: And uh, let's see, the other one was assisting making 352 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: available copyrighted material, as seems kind of you know, weird 353 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,439 Speaker 1: and and and vague, but that's the way it's worded. 354 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: So here's the thing. The prosecution did not understand how 355 00:19:55,600 --> 00:20:00,000 Speaker 1: the pirate Bay worked. And the day after the Pirate Bay, 356 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,479 Speaker 1: uh lawyer opened with the opening statement, half the charges 357 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:06,959 Speaker 1: were dropped. Well, yeah, all the charges that had to 358 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,600 Speaker 1: do specifically with assisting copyright infringement were dropped because it 359 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,720 Speaker 1: just wasn't. They weren't making available any of these files. 360 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,639 Speaker 1: They were just a tracking system. There's a lot of 361 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:20,800 Speaker 1: attention being put on this right now because people are 362 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:22,920 Speaker 1: you know, kind of falling into one camp or the other. 363 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: Either come on, they're called the pirate Bay, what do 364 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,919 Speaker 1: you expect? Or they're saying, no, the pirate Bay is 365 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 1: really just a search engine. If you go after the 366 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: Pirate Bay, you should go after Google because you can 367 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,439 Speaker 1: find torrents on Google. You can use Google to find torrents. 368 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,360 Speaker 1: You can use any search engine really to find these 369 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:44,240 Speaker 1: sort of torrent files. It's just the pirate base specifically 370 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:48,879 Speaker 1: tuned to find torrents. Then there's the revenue aspect, you know, 371 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 1: they're they're claiming that not only did they build the 372 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 1: site to to show people where you can download files illegally, 373 00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 1: but they sold ads alongside it, and the the prosecution 374 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: is trying to get money back for for the revenue 375 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:08,440 Speaker 1: that they made on the on the advertising, about a 376 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:11,920 Speaker 1: hundred and eighty thousand dollars. I'm told, yeah, and again, 377 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: this is like search advertising. You could argue, I mean 378 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 1: it's not. It's not that they're necessarily advertising these you know, 379 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: various movies and music as much as they're advertising these 380 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:26,480 Speaker 1: search tool itself. Right, So I mean you're it's tricky, 381 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,719 Speaker 1: and um, it's it's the other interesting thing is that 382 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:34,240 Speaker 1: the prosecutions finding it very difficult to go after specific 383 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:35,840 Speaker 1: people in the Pirate Bay because they don't have a 384 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: traditional hierarchy. There's not like one guy in charge. It's 385 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: a group of people who all pitch in and do work, 386 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,600 Speaker 1: and when they say, you know what, we could use 387 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: this feature, someone will go out and build it. It's 388 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:51,080 Speaker 1: not like, uh, the leader says, hey we need this, 389 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 1: you go do it. It's it's very much collective, and 390 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:58,560 Speaker 1: the prosecutions finding it difficult to handle that aspect of 391 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 1: the Pirate Bay too. It's actually becoming sort of a 392 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,560 Speaker 1: a circus over there in a way. And uh, as 393 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: we're recording this, they trial still ongoing, so we don't 394 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,159 Speaker 1: know how it's going to turn out just yet. And 395 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 1: would explain why they were all wearing the big floppy shoes. 396 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: I was wondering about that. It's going to ask you. 397 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:19,080 Speaker 1: I was just wondering why the defense all came in 398 00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:23,640 Speaker 1: one car. That is a good question. So anyway, now 399 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,360 Speaker 1: that we've managed to get completely off track, to get 400 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:28,359 Speaker 1: back on track, if you would like to learn more 401 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:30,960 Speaker 1: about packet sniffing and torrents and all of the information 402 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 1: in between, we have all that at our website, how 403 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. And if you want to get 404 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,240 Speaker 1: in touch with us you have any corrections or do 405 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions for for episodes, you 406 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: can write to us at tech stuff at how stuff 407 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: works dot com. And don't forget we have blogs now 408 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: blogs ya blogs, so you can read all about Chris's 409 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:55,000 Speaker 1: take on the tech world and my stupid jokes. Those 410 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 1: can be found at blogs dot how stuff works dot 411 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,640 Speaker 1: Com slash category, slash text. So I hope you find 412 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: all that interesting. It's fantastic stuff. There's tons of content there, 413 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,200 Speaker 1: and we look forward to talking to you again really 414 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 1: soon for more on this and thousands of other topics. 415 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:17,720 Speaker 1: Is it How Stuff Works dot Com brought to you 416 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,160 Speaker 1: by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are 417 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:21,400 Speaker 1: you