When Comcast got caught blocking some BitTorrent connections a few years back, the issue wasn't just one for the FCC; it also went to court, where customers sued Comcast over the practice. That class action suit reached the settlement stage back in December 2009, but the man who discovered the P2P blocking is asking users to opt out.

Robb Topolski helped bring Comcast's practices to light, and he's not pleased about the proposed settlement. Under the terms of the deal, which have not yet been approved by the judge in the case, you could be eligible for a whopping $16 from Comcast. You qualify if you were a Comcast customer who used "the Ares, BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack, or Gnutella P2P protocols at any time from April 1, 2006 to December 31, 2008" and/or used "Lotus Notes to send emails any time from March 26, 2007 to October 3, 2007." (Some Notes traffic was apparently blocked inadvertently by Comcast's system.)

In order to qualify for the cash, you need to sign up at the official settlement website and provide your Comcast account number.

According to Topolski, though, it's a bad deal and you should opt out of the settlement, thus preserving your rights for future litigation. Here's why:

You paid about $50 a month for the service, and the amount that Comcast stands to return is up to about 50¢ per month for each month that it blocked traffic—just 1 cent on the dollar! That doesn’t begin to compensate for the value of the service that Comcast secretly took back.

If that tiny amount of money is compensation, then there is no penalty to Comcast for interfering with its customers, for failing to disclose it, for repeatedly lying about it, and for taking so long to stop it!

The settlement was reached under the assumption that the FCC would still oversee Comcast. With Comcast’s victory over the FCC's authority, there is nothing to stop Comcast or any other ISP from again interfering with your Internet communications.

We asked Comcast for a response to Topolski's campaign, but have yet to receive a response. Opt-outs have to occur by May 13, as do objections to the settlement.

Such class action suits often produce little of value for affected consumers, but they can generate plenty of cash for the law firms that handle them. In this case, the lawyers plan to ask the court for $3 million in fees and expenses.