A DIY Test For Your Broadband Provider’s Net Neutrality

By Christopher Rhoads

Worried that your broadband provider is slowing down your Web traffic?

If so, you might want to download the aptly named “Switzerland” — a tool that tests whether your Internet provider is violating the principles of so-called “network neutrality.”

Network neutrality, which prevents carriers from blocking traffic or manipulating the speeds of traffic from certain Web sites, became a hot-button issue several years ago when carriers suggested they should be allowed to charge content providers more for using faster lanes on their networks.

The issue resurfaced last summer when the FCC determined that Comcast had interfered with its subscribers’ use of a file-sharing technology, called BitTorrent, a free application used to distribute sometimes large software and media files. Comcast is contesting the ruling.

Net neutrality is likely to re-emerge in the coming months, as the incoming Congress considers expected legislation on the issue. At the moment, the FCC advocates only broad guidelines to “preserve and promote the open and interconneted nature of the public Internet.”

Meanwhile, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit in San Francisco that helped discover Comcast’s actions, decided it needed to help users detect similar violations.

“Congress may or may not decide to pass legislation on this,” said Peter Eckersley, a staff technologist with the EFF who designed Switzerland. “But we are going to need tools to know what’s going on and spot causes for concern on the network.”

EFF released Switzerland in August. The tool can be downloaded by users for free, and has been downloaded several thousands of times, according to Mr. Eckersley. It’s designed to detect when packets of Internet traffic have been modified or inserted into the network by service providers.

Still, in a hint of the debate to come, some contend such tools don’t detect anti-competitive practices that should also be included in any net neutrality legislation.

“It’s important to note that this tool tests for only ONE set of behaviors that are claimed by SOME people to be a violation of network neutrality,” wrote Brett Glass, a technology consultant, in a Web site comment on the EFF tool.

Hardware Hacker Charged With Selling Cable Modems That Get Free Broadband

By Kevin Poulsen Hacks and Cracks

In the first case of its kind, a Pennsylvania man faces federal criminal charges for allegedly selling hacked cable modems capable of stealing free, anonymous internet service from broadband providers.

Thomas Swingler was charged Thursday in federal court in New York with trafficking in unlawful access devices for his online business cablehack.net. The site, still in operation, sells "pre-modded" Motorola Surfboard modems for between $38 and $58 that can be customized by the owner without a cable company's knowledge. Among other things, the user can set their own upload and download rates, and change the MAC address — the unique identifier normally hard-coded into a modem.

"If you decide to use one of these modems to get free internet, then you're committing theft of service and we will take no responsibility for what may happen to you if you're caught," the site cautions in its FAQ.

The prosecution treads on a gray area largely avoided by federal law enforcement until now. Modified modems and detailed hacking tutorials have long been available over the internet, with much of the hacking aimed at "uncapping" modems to get higher speeds than offered by providers. The hacking is effective because, unlike old-fashioned telephone service, in which the phone company exerts independent control of every line, cable modem systems hang an entire neighborhood off a common backbone in the field. To bill customers and set individual bandwidth limits, they rely on their ability to track and control the modems attached to their network.

Customizable modems can also have legitimate uses. But despite his public disclaimer, Swingler knew exactly why people were buying his hacked modems, according to the FBI, which set an informant on Swingler last June. "The modem steals the internet," he allegedly said in an online chat with the snitch. He described his business as "modem modification where you can get free cable internet."

"It's 100 percent legal," he boasted. "What the end user does is theft-of-service. Not my problem."

Using a cloned or fictitious MAC address could not only provide free broadband, it would frustrate law enforcement efforts to track down an internet user committing other crimes online. "You could do mad fraud off it," Swingler allegedly explained in another chat session. Swingler declined to comment for this story.

It's not clear how many modems Swingler has sold, but the online forum attached to his site boasts over 4,000 users, and the FBI's review of Swingler's PayPal account showed "numerous sales of modems to individuals around the world."

In July, FBI agent Milan Patel ordered a modem (.pdf) from Swingler and sent it to Motorola for analysis. The company verified for the FBI that the device had been hacked to allow users to change their MAC address.

Because the hacked modems have legitimate uses, Swingler's statements to the informant could make all the difference in the case, says Mark Rasch, a former Justice Department cybercrime prosecutor.

"I think the law is pretty clear that if you can convincingly say that you didn't know it was going to be used illegally, you shouldn't be prosecuted," says Rasch. "I don't think that argument will fly here."

The author of Hacking the Cable Modem: What Cable Companies Don't Want You to Know, who goes by the name DerEngel, says he's familiar with cablehack.net. Last year the site licensed DerEngel's custom cable-modem firmware, called Sigma, for a flat $150 fee. "They used to just steal it," he says.

Like cablehack.net, DerEngel's website sells pre-modded modems loaded with Sigma, which allows users to reconfigure the modem through a built-in web interface. Among other things, the custom interface lets users to change their MAC address. But DerEngel says he doesn't support fraud, and that MAC address tinkering has legitimate uses, and is just one step in the complicated process that allows a modem to get free, untraceable internet.

"I think that's morally wrong and probably illegal," DerEngel says. "There's a gray area there, but theft-of-service is a crime no matter where you're at."

According to the FBI, Swingler took up modem-modding after retiring from a career managing botnets — fleets of hacked computers used to steal consumer information and launch denial-of-service attacks.

Update: January 12, 2009 | 7:30:00 PM

"Tom from Cablehack" responds in the comments, denying the FBI's allegations across the board.

I have customers all the time asking me, "Can I use this modem and cancel my sub account"

I simply state NO. It is NOT intended for that purpose. These modems are 100% legal to sell, it is a stock Motorola diagnostic shelled firmware. This is why they are allowed to be sold on eBay, because we as modders are doing NOTHING illegal if we are just simply upgrading the firmware to shell access.

You have 7 business days to remove this report / story from your blog. if you fail to do so, I will press charges to the full extent.