Comcast Facing FCC Penalty Over P2P Practices

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13 commentsFriday, July 11, 2008

Comcast Facing FCC Penalty Over P2P Practices

Outcome could be an end to unlimited Net access plans

By WebProNews Staff

By engaging in traffic shaping to slow down heavy users of its Internet service, Comcast may be on the brink of receiving a penalty from the Federal Communications Commission.

Comcast sits in a lonely place when it comes to the discussion over net neutrality. The cable company's ISP service used network controls to hinder the operation of rapid file transfer services like BitTorrent, as was discovered last year.

The practice looks like it will dunk Comcast into hot water with the FCC. Comcast critic Free Press complained to the FCC about Comcast's work, which the FCC appears ready to agree Comcast ran afoul of open access rules.

"The FCC now appears ready to take action on behalf of consumers," Free Press general counsel Marvin Ammori said in a statement. "This is an historic test for whether the law will protect the open Internet. If the commission decisively rules against Comcast, it will be a remarkable victory for organized people over organized money."

Any preliminary celebrating should be tempered with a dose of reality. As the Bits Blog claimed, ISPs use network management tools as Comcast does, with Comcast being unfortunate enough to get caught in a public fashion.

An FCC penalty may bring about a less desirable result than net neutrality advocates necessarily wanted, according to Bits. Comcast and other broadband providers could choose to implement billing based on usage rather than the unlimited access plans being offered today.

Such pricing hasn't been common for consumers for years, and unlimited access likely spurred greater usage of the Internet, leading to its growth and creation of valuable services. One might even consider an FCC sanction that sends providers into usage billing schemes ends up being a convenient excuse for Comcast and others to jettison unlimited access plans en masse.

News Tags: Comcast, Legal, Traffic shaping, FCC

By Robb Topolski (WPN reader) - Fri, 07/11/2008 - 08:38

Not the end of Unlimited Access

David,

Thank you for your great and early coverage of this story!

The technological power that enabled Comcast to block P2P uploads did not exist until late 2006 and was only employed mid-to-late 2007. Only one other ISP (Cox) seemed to do the same. It takes a leap of logic to say that this spells the end to unlimited access plans.

Two ISPs got greedy and decided to put a halt to the Internet's growth, and spent their money on secret technology to steal purchased bandwidth back from their own customers.

Both got caught, publically, but only Comcast tried the tactics of deny, diffuse, deflect, defame, and disillusion.

When Comcast bought up large systems to become the largest Cable MSO, it did not buy the Internet. It has no right to change how it works -- not one byte of it.

How the world-wide Internet works is defined by all of us, through our participation and trust in the Internet Society and the Internet Engineering Task Force. To ensure interoperability and access for all, changes must be carefully deliberated and standardized there. The responsibility of operating the Internet in accordance with those standards is entrusted to companies providing access to it. It's not Comcast's job to change how the Internet works nor can it decide who or what gets preference upon it.

I haven't seen anything other than the press reports about something to be circulated around the FCC. I am hopeful that when the details are released that it serves to preserve and protect the Internet from those who would abuse their power and change it.

Robb Topolski, a Comcast subscriber

By Commercial Lighting Guy (WPN reader) - Fri, 07/11/2008 - 11:47