Wehe

Name: Wehe
Author: Northwestern University

Northwestern University

VALIDATED

Initial evidence from research studies

For:Researchers & AcademicsGeneral Public & Enthusiasts

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App Summary

Wehe is a research app for network users that tests whether an internet service provider is throttling or prioritizing traffic for specific applications, a practice known as traffic differentiation. The associated research, based on an analysis of over one million crowdsourced user tests (N=1,045,413), validated the app's methodology and identified differentiation practices that reduced network traffic rates by up to 60%. The authors conclude that by exposing this behavior, the tool can improve transparency for internet users and help inform future net neutrality policies.

App Screenshots

Detailed Description

Functionality & Mechanism

Developed at Northeastern University, Wehe diagnoses network traffic differentiation by recording and replaying an application's network traffic. The system compares the performance of this replayed traffic against a baseline transmission within an encrypted tunnel to isolate provider-level manipulations. A testing session analyzes network provider behavior for specific applications and ports, culminating in a report on detected differentiation practices. Users contribute deidentified data to a large-scale, IRB-approved research project studying net neutrality and network transparency.

Evidence & Research Context

A one-year study leveraging the app aggregated 1,045,413 measurements from 126,249 users across 183 countries to analyze global network management practices.
Associated research identified content-based traffic differentiation, including fixed-rate throttling, across both cellular and WiFi networks from 30 internet service providers in 7 countries.
Initial validation studies demonstrated that detected differentiation disproportionately affects TCP traffic, with observed network performance reductions of up to 60%.
The system's methodology was validated in laboratory settings against commercial-grade traffic shaping hardware, confirming its capacity to accurately detect differentiation.

Intended Use & Scope

This tool is designed for the general public to audit internet service providers and for researchers investigating net neutrality. Its primary utility is as a crowdsourced data collection and analysis instrument for network transparency research. Individual test results do not constitute definitive proof of a regulatory violation and should be interpreted within the larger research context.

Studies & Publications

2 publications

Peer-reviewed research associated with this app.

Effectiveness/Outcome Study

A large-scale analysis of deployed traffic differentiation practices

Li et al. (2019) · Proceedings of the 2019 ACM SIGCOMM Conference

Successfully identified internet providers' traffic throttling and differentiation practices across 30 providers in 7 countries.

Net neutrality has been the subject of considerable public debate over the past decade. Despite the potential impact on content providers and users, there is currently a lack of tools or data for stakeholders to independently audit the net neutrality policies of network providers. In this work, we address this issue by conducting a one-year study of content-based traffic differentiation policies deployed in operational networks, using results from 1,045,413 crowdsourced measurements conducted by 126,249 users across 2,735 ISPs in 183 countries/regions. We develop and evaluate a methodology that combines individual per-device measurements to form high-confidence, statistically significant inferences of differentiation practices, including fixed-rate bandwidth limits (i.e., throttling) and delayed throttling practices. Using this approach, we identify differentiation in both cellular and WiFi networks, comprising 30 ISPs in 7 countries. We also investigate the impact of throttling practices on video streaming resolution for several popular video streaming providers.

Development/Design Paper

Identifying traffic differentiation in mobile networks

Molavi Kakhki et al. (2015) · Proceedings of the 2015 Internet Measurement Conference

Describes the research-driven development of this app

Traffic differentiation---giving better (or worse) performance to certain classes of Internet traffic---is a well-known but poorly understood traffic management policy. There is active discussion on whether and how ISPs should be allowed to differentiate Internet traffic, but little data about current practices to inform this discussion. Previous work attempted to address this problem for fixed line networks; however, there is currently no solution that works in the more challenging mobile environment. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation of the first system and mobile app for identifying traffic differentiation for arbitrary applications in the mobile environment (i.e., wireless networks such as cellular and WiFi, used by smartphones and tablets). The key idea is to use a VPN proxy to record and replay the network traffic generated by arbitrary applications, and compare it with the network behavior when replaying this traffic outside of an encrypted tunnel. We perform the first known testbed experiments with actual commercial shaping devices to validate our system design and demonstrate how it outperforms previous work for detecting differentiation. We released our app and collected differentiation results from 12 ISPs in 5 countries. We find that differentiation tends to affect TCP traffic (reducing rates by up to 60%) and that interference from middleboxes (including video-transcoding devices) is pervasive. By exposing such behavior, we hope to improve transparency for users and help inform future policies.

In the Media

Are mobile carriers already violating net neutrality?

Northeastern University researcher Dave Choffnes built Wehe, an app that detects when mobile carriers may be throttling traffic to apps like Netflix and YouTube, even before the FCC's controversial net neutrality repeal went into effect. The application enables users to test whether their mobile carriers are limiting bandwidth to specific services. The tool provides evidence of potential net neutrality violations through user-generated data.

ViceRead article

Apple allows Northeastern-created app into store after ban

Apple initially refused to allow Wehe, an app created by a Northeastern-led research team, on the App Store, but relented after public outcry. The app, developed by Northeastern assistant professor David Choffnes and his research team, detects net neutrality violations. The controversy highlighted tensions between tech platforms and researchers studying internet service provider practices.

HuntnewsnuRead article

Northeastern Professor Scores a Victory for Detecting Net Neutrality

Northeastern professor David Choffnes experienced overwhelming demand for his Wehe app when the website went down last week, initially mistaken for an attack before realizing "we were just featured at the top of Reddit." The net neutrality detection tool gained viral attention leading to server capacity issues. The unexpected popularity demonstrated widespread public interest in monitoring ISP practices.

NortheasternRead article

Net Neutrality: Wehe App That Measures Internet Speeds Sees Huge Demand

The Wehe app, which measures if ISPs preserve net neutrality, has seen incredible demand since its release last week, with 160 App Store ratings averaging 3.7 stars. User demands have exceeded available Wehe server space, demonstrating significant public interest in monitoring internet service providers. The app enables users to test whether their ISP is throttling specific services or applications.

InverseRead article

'Shape of Water' Oscars: Star Explains 'Hellboy' Comparisons

Doug Jones discussed how he approached his character in "The Shape of Water" differently than Abe Sapien from Guillermo del Toro's previous films, as the 2017 romance received several Oscar nominations. The film, described as one of 2017's best and most tender romances, was nominated for multiple Academy Awards. Jones explained the distinct character development approach for the Oscar-nominated performance.

InverseRead article

Media Coverage Roundup: Wehe app created by David Choffnes attempts to detect net neutrality violations

Northeastern University assistant professor David Choffnes created the Wehe app to detect net neutrality violations, attracting significant media coverage for its innovative approach to measuring internet service provider practices. The Khoury College of Computer Sciences promotes the project as demonstrating Northeastern's advantage in experiential learning opportunities. The app represents practical application of computer science research to address real-world policy concerns.

NortheasternRead article