October 26th, 2007
Boucher takes Comcast to task
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) has taken notice of Comcast’s tricks (literally) to squeeze out BitTorrent and other P2P traffic. In an interview with CNET’s Crave blog, Boucher said the cable company has made a “major mistake.”
“The inability of customers to (share files) significantly diminishes their ability to utilize the Internet for one of its most important applications, which is user-to-user content.” He also noted that “file sharing is already being used for a wide variety of perfectly lawful and appropriate applications.”
While Comcast “obviously needs to engage in some aspect of network management,” Boucher said, “(the) management needs to occur in a more evenhanded way” and that “(Comcast) should not engage in a blanket disqualification of any category of lawful applications.”
According to CNET blogger Adam Soghoian, Boucher said he would not bring legislative firepower to deal with Comcast’s forging of user identity. He said:
“the long-term answer is to deploy more capacity. That is what municipal broadband and other telecom companies are doing. Ultimately, the cable companies will have to deploy fiber to the house.”
