Deep packet inspection and bandwidth management: Battles over BitTorrent in Canada and the United States

Two case studies explore the reciprocal influence between technological change and Internet governance. Both focus on the use by Internet service providers of a new capability known as deep packet inspection (DPI). DPI was used by major network operators in the U.S. and Canada to block or restrict the speed of peer to peer file sharing traffic by their customers. In both cases, DPI implementations led to public protests, litigation and major regulatory proceedings. In both cases, network neutrality norms were used to challenge DPI deployments. The paper's descriptive comparison is supplemented by quantitative data drawn from the use of Glasnost, a network test that allows third parties to detect BitTorrent throttling via DPI. The paper asks whether the use of DPI by ISPs disrupted the way the Internet is regulated, and whether political and institutional factors alter or constrain DPI use. It finds that the power to shape traffic flows redistributes control among actors in the Internet ecosystem, generating broad political economy debates about efficiency, fairness, innovation and transparency. But the actual results of those conflicts are indeterminate, reflecting institutional and historical contingencies. ► The use of DPI disrupted established methods of Internet governance in Canada and the U.S. ► Use of DPI for BitTorrent throttling led to public mobilizations, litigation and major regulatory proceedings. ► In the U.S., ISPs backed away from application-specific throttling despite the FCC's lack of authority. ► In Canada, CRTC regulations did not have any impact on prior use of DPI and actually led to an increase in its use.