[Infowarrior] - EFF Releases "Switzerland" ISP Testing Tool

[Richard Forno]

http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/07/31

August 1st, 2008
EFF Releases "Switzerland" ISP Testing Tool
Empowers Internet Users on Eve of FCC Comcast Action

San Francisco - Hours before the Federal Communications Commission  
(FCC) is expected to take action against Comcast for violating the  
FCC's net neutrality principles, the Electronic Frontier Foundation  
(EFF) is releasing "Switzerland," a software tool for customers to  
test the integrity of their Internet communications.

The FCC action, expected later today, is a response to formal  
complaints regarding efforts by Comcast to interfere with its  
subscribers' use of BitTorrent to share files over the Internet. These  
interference efforts were first documented and disclosed in October  
2007 by EFF, the Associated Press, and a concerned Internet user, Robb  
Topolski. EFF subsequently urged the FCC to declare Comcast's efforts  
inconsistent with the Commission's 2005 "Internet Policy Statement,"  
which sets a benchmark for neutral treatment of Internet traffic.

"The sad truth is that the FCC is ill-equipped to detect ISPs  
interfering with your Internet connection," said Fred von Lohmann, EFF  
Senior Intellectual Property Attorney. "It's up to concerned Internet  
users to investigate possible network neutrality violations, and EFF's  
Switzerland software is designed to help with that effort. Comcast  
isn't the first, and certainly won't be the last, ISP to meddle  
surreptitiously with its subscribers' Internet communications for its  
own benefit."

"Until now, there hasn't been a reliable way to tell if somebody -- a  
hacker, an ISP, corporate firewall, or the Great Firewall of China --  
is modifying your Internet traffic en route," said Peter Eckersley,  
EFF Staff Technologist and designer of Switzerland. "The few tests  
available have been for narrow and specific kinds of interference, or  
have required tremendous amounts of advanced forensic labor.  
Switzerland is designed to make general-purpose ISP testing faster and  
easier."

Part of EFF's "Test your ISP" project, Switzerland is an open source,  
command-line software tool designed to detect the modification or  
injection of packets of data by ISPs. Switzerland detects changes made  
by software tools believed to be in use by ISPs such as Sandvine and  
AudibleMagic, advertising systems like FairEagle, and various  
censorship systems. Although currently intended for use by technically  
sophisticated Internet users, development plans aim to make the tool  
increasingly easy to use.

For more information and to download the Switzerland software:
http://www.eff.org/testyourisp/switzerland

For more about EFF's "Test Your ISP" Project:
http://www.eff.org/testyourisp

Contacts:

Fred von Lohmann
Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
fred at eff.org

Peter Eckersley
Staff Technologist
Electronic Frontier Foundation
pde at eff.org