Comcast telling customers to stop using Tor

[AndThenThereWas1]

Comcast customer reps have been contacting customers and telling them that if they do not stop using Tor their service may be terminated. It actually goes even further. They are saying that if you try to protect your privacy you are probably doing something illegal. Here is an alleged quote from comcast:

 

A Comcast agent named Jeremy allegedly called Tor an “illegal service.” The Comcast agent told its customer that such activity is against usage policies.

The Comcast agent then repeatedly asked the customer to tell him what sites he was accessing on the Tor browser. The customer refused to answer.

The next day the customer called Comcast and spoke to another agent named Kelly who reiterated that Comcast does not want its customers using Tor. The Comcast agent then allegedly told the customer:

Users who try to use anonymity, or cover themselves up on the internet, are usually doing things that aren’t so-to-speak legal. We have the right to terminate,   fine, or suspend your account at anytime due to you violating the rules.

Do you have any other questions? Thank you for contacting Comcast, have a great day.

 

 

How did Comcast know its customers were using Tor in the first place? Because Tor Browser provides online anonymity to its users,  This would mean that Comcast is monitoring the online activities of its users, to (among other things) check if they are following their Acceptable Use Policy.

 

Like many customers of comcast i did not read comcast's terms and conditions before signing so im shocked to find out that im actually not allowed to use proxy servers with comcast:

 

The Tor project cited Comcast’s Acceptable Use Policy for its residential customers which claims to not allow servers or proxies under “technical restrictions.”:

use

or run dedicated, stand-alone equipment or servers from the Premises that provide network content or any other services to anyone outside of your Premises local area network (“PremisesLAN”), also commonly referred to as public services or servers.

Examples of prohibited equipment

and servers include, but are not limited to, email, web hosting, file sharing, and

proxy services

and servers;

 

 

 

I knew comcast was a bad ISP, but this is just ridiculous. To assume someone is doing illegal things just because they are trying to protect their privacy is ridiculous. Can you imagine what it will be like if net neutrality dies? The future is not looking good right now.

 

comcast use policy: http://www.comcast.com/Corporate/Customers/Policies/HighSpeedInternetAUP.html

source 1:http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/09/13/comcast-declares-war-tor/

source 2:http://www.inquisitr.com/1474279/comcast-tells-customers-to-stop-using-tor-browser/

[Snickerzz]

nevermind

[flibberdipper]

Why the fuck are you doing this Comcast? Makes me sad you're the best ISP in my area.

[suicidalfranco]

First Tor, next VPNs

[bob345]

Really? This is one of the stupider things Comcast has done recently. They went full retard

[ilikemacandpc]

-snip-

 

Oh boy....

We have a person who doesn't know ANYTHING

 

http://lifehacker.com/5918171/plenty-to-hide

[bob345]

-snip-

you're kidding right?

[totjup5]

Once again, happy Comcast isn't allowed where I live.

[Bloodyvalley]

I don't have comcast in my region

[daemonowner]

You know, throughout history, when a government or some other body screws over the people in its own country, the people tend to get pissed, and when the people become pissed they tend to rise up and fight those who oppress them, and when they do that, the people who were screwing them often end up dead. Just sayin'.

[DarrenP]

Just like Rogers where i live. Rogers hates TOR and if you were to ever use it. Say hello to the lawsuits.

[Flight1sim]

So no hotspot shield???

[JEW UNIT NY]

as far as im concerned if you use Tor your a child molester only criminals use it. and don't give me that privacy bullshit its not privacy when you are concealing your identity is being anonymous so you can lie cheat and steal.

Wtf are you talking about? Everyone, regardless of who you are and what you do are entitled to privacy. Comments like yours are what's wrong with the Internet. If you are stating an opinion or expressing sarcasm, please state in your post.

Site suggest? Make a dislike button.

[AlwaysFSX]

Hey Comcast, we don't like you for a reason.

 

-snip-

Comment of the week right here, and I've seen some ignorant stuff.

[ForsakenLive]

-snip-

Woah, slow down....

Tor was a tool created to retain freedom of speech on regions were is not allowed, since its invention it is the most used tool by journalist on war zones, where you will get in problems if you give a bad review on the dictator.

[FizzyFantom]

-snip-

May I ask how you think they tell the difference between Tor and other encypted traffic? They can't look in it, it's encrypted, so this is just setting them up to block all encrpyted data because "it could be piracy". There are plenty of things that you need to encypt data for such as banking and you often can't tell these apart from Tor or VPNs.

[bcredeur97]

seriously comcast... if you or the stuipid governement that rules over you werent spying on us then MAYBE we wouldnt have to use TOR you bubble headed idiots

[DigitalHermit]

I weep for freedom on the internet...

 

Sure TOR is being used by shady people but that does not mean that everyone on it is shady... Same with VPNs...

 

I use a VPN when the routing of my ISP becomes crap (which is rare... I'm impressed...)... It's a really nice way to force some of your traffic through a different route and get the advertised speeds on your plan (or beyond)... The only downside is the latency which I don't mind since I play mostly offline and single player games...

[Misanthrope]

Comcast again? You know what time it is? Rant o'clock!

[IdortMasterRace]

-snip-

 

"People who care about their human rights are paedophiles".

 

Ahahaha, oh wow, my sides.

[Redheadsrule13]

Oh boy. One one hand I'm not surprised, on the other it just reminds me of how much American ISP's are screwing their customers like there's no tomorrow.
Something that annoys me in threads like this is people saying things like "Well, I don't live there so not my problem."
That might be true, but the fact that people are still getting away with this is a major issue, and will inevitably and up effecting you in some way, shape or form. For someone like me who lives in Aus, I might not have to deal with this sort of shit now, but with the way our government is currently going, soon our ISP's are going to be just like those in America. I wish that Aus would stop trying to suck up to the US and follow in their footsteps constantly, we're just going to end up screwed too.

[Razzaa]

-snip-

NSA employee of the month right here folks!!!!

[RH00D]

-snip-

You probably also think everybody who owns a firearm is a murderer and everybody who lifts weights likes to beat people up.

[Agons]

i use a vpn, and i play with tor just out of a network design interest. now I'm doing illegal things because I like to learn? This is why we need legit net neutrality. things like this are bullshit!

[Bonsuki]

You know, throughout history, when a government or some other body screws over the people in its own country, the people tend to get pissed, and when the people become pissed they tend to rise up and fight those who oppress them, and when they do that, the people who were screwing them often end up dead. Just sayin'.

Sic semper tyrannis.