One other thing...
I just trolled through the Comcast website, and I never see a mention of "unlimited" except in reference to the VoIP product. Now, that isn't to say in the past, they also never said unlimited. But the past didn't contain BitTorrent, YouTube, and other Web 2.0 fluff. It was graphical websites full of some Flash and Shockwave and the occasional Java mess. The pipes built then, in the excesses of the dotcom bubble, allowed us to even have a functional internet today. They laid fiber everywhere they could, gave everyone a fat pipe, and aimed it at a tea cup. Only those really in the know could go out there and find the warez, CDs, DVDs, and such. Then the game changed, and applications were created to take advantage (this is in the "creep up behind you, smack you over the head, and rummage around in your billfold" kind of way) of the huge, underutilized pipes and processors. Comcast and other providers were caught with their pants down, because they are large companies who, for the most part, were used to controlling the content and the delivery, and now, they just had the latter. So, what went from maybe everyone averaging 2-10GB of content a year, now they are looking at 2-10GB of content a month.
But, all good contracts have a clause of some type, notifying the customer that the Ts & Cs could change at any time. It might have come as an insert into a bill one month, maybe a separate mailing that was ignored and thrown away. And maybe, just maybe, those people crying foul over the "unexpected" termination of their connection for hitting a cap were notified a couple of times in preceding months. Dealing with customers daily regarding financial transactions and systems work has instilled in me a healthy amount of skepticism when someone says, "Well, no one ever told me that!" Most of the time, either they were told and ignored it, either verbally or written, or there was this strange cognitive disconnect between the notification and how it actually applied to them. Rarely, they actually didn't get it, especially if it was mailed, because the Post Office does occasionally misdirect or lose mail, or more commonly, they had failed to notify us of an address change.
I will state that on the Comcast website, I haven't been able to easily obtain anything that indicates what a usage cap might be. Now, that's not to say it doesn't exist, or that failure to have it on the front page constitutes "fraud" or "bait and switch." I'm merely pointing out that a casual glance does not show what a cap might be, but it also shows nothing indicating unlimited usage. A customer who is learned in the way of business will take the package named "Performance 6Mbps" and read up on it, and you will not find mention of unlimited service. It's a connection. The fine print on the website also states "Service is subject to terms and conditions of Comcast High-Speed Internet Subscriber Agreement and Home Networking Amendment if applicable. For restrictions, minimum requirements and details about service and prices, call 1-800-Comcast." To me, that would indicate that if you want the full story, read the agreement, and then sign if you'd like.
I guess to me, it's pretty simple. Comcast (or any other provider) has the right and responsibility to make sure that all subscribers have access to the service they are being provided. Comcast no longer makes mention of unlimited usage, and without knowing how long ago they changed that, I cannot make a judgment on whether it was an organic (i.e. internal decision) change to the wording, or instigated by someone threatening legal action. However, anyone who has signed up recently has no reasonable expectation to unlimited usage. I might have my math off, but a 6Mbps connection over a 30 day month amounts to the logical maximum of 1.9TB a month (6Mbps x 60s x 60m x 24h x 30d and divide it all by 8bit)? That would be absurd, though with people downloading ripped, uncompressed HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies that would be 50 movies or so... does someone really need to download 50 movies a month, all the time? And if you say yes, you are either a very lonely person, or you are trying to build a media collection that rivals a Best Buy and Netflix put together. And I don't ever care about the legality (or lack thereof).
The simple fact remains, while you might decry the methods, and the shoddy way it was explained (technically, P2P isn't blocked, just....delayed), without it, the system would collapse. Right now, instead of the serial uploader being able to seed 30 items, they can seed only 6. Somehow, I fail to see how this is a bad thing. If it means I can still watch my streaming porn while playing some Hold 'Em online and listening to streaming audio broadcasts.... Err...
A big deal is being made out of nothing, and both the EFF and this writer are looking at it the wrong way. And it's not like Comcast is going corporate on you and just outright blocking sites that contain streaming materials, or blocking whole ports that are used by them. At work, I can get about 1 in 10 radio stations, no video, and large sections of the internet are completely blocked off. Now if Comcast did that, I think we could instigate some kind of pitchfork and torch movement.