Is Shaw Cable deciding what I can and cannot download? Are they censoring the Internet? BoingBoing.net claims that Shaw Cable has installed a monitor that blocks certain protocols and discards packets based on some hidden criteria.

If this is true, then it explains a lot of the effects that I see. I admit, I use a file sharing application to download MST3K episodes -- not only is it (currently) legal to do so in Canada, but the producers have stated that they don't mind if fans share the episodes that aren't available for sale on DVD. Right, so I used to be able to download these things fairly quickly, but a while back, everything slowed to a crawl. Transfer rates slowed from 80Kbps to 1Kbps. Packet loss went through the roof, especially when I played online, multiplayer games like Second Life, which streams graphics and sound over the net.

I'd be outraged if this turned out to be true. Shaw has no right to secretly dictate what I can or can't access on the net. I really want to know if this is true.

Link: BoingBoing.net: "Shaw is censoring Internet feeds and lying about it"