Cox, Comcast Block File-Sharing, Study Finds

May 15, 2008 11:39 a.m. EST

Washington, DC (AHN) - A new study finds Cox Communications may have joined the ranks of ISPs, such as Comcast, that block some Internet traffic. The German study found 62 percent of participating Comcast subscribers and 54 percent of participating Cox customers had their file-sharing activities hindered.

The study by the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems surveyed 8,175 Internet users. Typical blocking happens when a subscriber attempts to upload a file obtained through the BitTorrent file-sharing network, according to the AP which obtained the study results.

Cox, which has 3.8 million customers, since 2006 has used "protocol filtering" to manage network traffic through a means of prioritization. Comcast, with 14.1 million subscribers, has come under fire from the FCC for reportedly interfering with some Internet connections.