By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com
July 26, 2008
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted late on Friday to penalize Comcast for its blocking of customer access to file-sharing engine BitTorrent, according to the Wall Street Journal. Although the FCC voted not to fine Comcast for its actions, the decision would set precedent against Internet service providers (ISPs) that attempt to block or shape their customers' Internet traffic.
FCC chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican, and commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, both Democrats, all indicated they would support penalties against the cable giant. The official vote does not take place until the next FCC open meeting on August 1, but the support of three of the five-person commission assures that the vote will pass.
The FCC's vote indicates that the commission views Comcast's actions as violating its "Internet Policy Statement," adopted in 2005 under previous chairman Michael Powell. The Policy Statement principles include the rights of consumers to have lawful access to the Internet, to attach devices and run applications that are legal and cause no harm, and to enjoy competition among service providers.
The FCC chose not to fine Comcast due to lack of clear mechanisms for enforcing the Policy Statement, according to sources.
Supporters of net neutrality, the principle that all Internet content should be accessed equally, cheered the ruling. Marvin Ammori, general counsel for media watchdog group Free Press, said the vote "reflects the bipartisan support for protecting consumers' access to the free and open Internet."
"Comcast's blocking is a flagrant violation of the online rights established by the FCC," Ammori said. "If adopted, this order would send a strong signal to the marketplace that arbitrarily interfering with users' online choices is not acceptable."
Comcast said in a statement that "we continue to assert that our network management practices were reasonable, wholly consistent with industry practices and that we did not block access to Web sites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services. We do not believe the record supports any other conclusion."
Comcast's Hard Road
The discovery in November 2007 that Comcast was blocking users' access to BitTorrent reignited the debate over net neutrality, with supporters pointing to Comcast's actions as clear evidence that ISPs were ready and willing to block users' ability to surf the Web freely. Comcast claimed that its actions were only at peak user traffic times, and represented only a small portion of its traffic, the majority of which continued to flow freely.
But further research found that both Comcast and Cox Communications blocked access to BitTorrent at all times of the day, regardless of customer usage and traffic.
FCC chair Martin announced in January that the Commission would investigate Comcast's actions, while the company scrambled to polish its image through cutting deals with BitTorrent and Vonage to work with them on new network management practices.
Martin's Moves
Net neutrality has been "Internet Policy Statement," at the FCC, with the Democratic commissioners urging strong penalties for ISPs that block customers' access to Web sites and codified principles protecting the right to an open Internet. The Republican commissioners, including Martin, Deborah Taylor Tate, and Robert McDowell, have generally preferred a more laissez-faire approach, advocating that any problems should be dealt with using existing law, rather than creating new laws before the problem can be fully examined.
But Martin has also distinguished himself as being exceptionally friendly to telecom companies such as AT&T; and Verizon, who have challenged the cable industry by offering their own combinations of high-speed Internet, phone, and television services. Martin has aggressively pursued new regulations against the cable industry and in favor of the telecom sector, ostensibly to lower prices and offer more choices for consumers. The benefits have largely been yet to materialize.
