Google has begun offering
network performance-measurement tools in a bid to keep tabs on the possible throttling of Internet bandwidth by ISPs. The tools are available through the newly unveiled
Measurement Lab, which Google cosponsors with New America Foundation, PlanetLab Consortium and some academic researchers. The tools allow users to identify problems that might affect the performance of their broadband Internet connections and to detect blocking or throttling of BitTorrent traffic by their ISPs. The results of the tests will be publicly available to researchers, allowing them to discover whether ISPs are blocking or otherwise interfering with the traffic they carry. Comcast's blocking of BitTorrent traffic in August 2008 led to the
FCC's ruling that the cable company had violated the agency's rules aimed at ensuring network neutrality.
