While some ISPs have banned, blocked or slowed peer-to-peer traffic in their efforts to keep the flood of music, video, games and software from overwhelming their networks, The Associated Press reports, Verizon has broken ranks with the industry and is set to announce Friday that it plans to help its users share files faster.

This announcement is meant for Verizon users on the desktop, not Verizon Wireless users on their cell phones. But it foreshadows the kind of thinking that could eventually let Verizon and other cell phone carriers lift bans on activities such as this on their cellular data networks, which are far more restricted in their use than desktop cable and DSL connections.

Verizon collaborated with researchers at Yale University and a group of companies that make file-sharing software to enable faster downloads for consumers and lower costs for participating ISPs, the report said.

"This test signifies a turning point in the history of peer-to-peer technology and ISPs," said Robert Levitan, chief executive of file-sharing company Pando Networks Inc, in the article. "It will definitely show ISPs that the problem is not peer-to-peer technology, the problem is how you deploy it. It is possible to deploy P2P to their advantage."