August 1st, 2008
FCC slams Comcast but too little too late?
The FCC formally voted to censure Comcast over torrent-blocking today. And the decision has stirred up plenty of controversry. The LA Times’ Jim Puzzanghera called the decision a “warning shot to all Internet service providers that it would not tolerate discriminatory behavior.”
There will be no fine but Comcast is required to:
.. disclose details of its network management practices, describe how it plans to comply with a promise made in March to stop the blocking by the end of the year and tell its customers what the new practices will be.
The Wall Street Journal earlier this week said chairman Kevin Martin was little more than a bad personnel choice and the decision to punish Comcast shows that:
“Martin isn’t satisfied with a private resolution of this technical dispute. Instead, he wants to make an example of Comcast in order to advance a “network neutrality” industrial policy being pushed by high-tech rivals like Google and pro-regulation advocacy groups like MoveOn.org, Consumers Union and Free Press. Net neutrality proponents want all Internet traffic treated “equally.” They would prohibit Internet service providers from using price to address the ever-growing popularity of streaming video and other bandwidth-intensive programs that cause bottlenecks.
And Richard Martin at InfoWeek agrees, saying “Until bandwidth becomes an unlimited resource — which, even with planned network upgrades touted again today by Comcast executives, is not likely in the foreseeable future — some form of tiered pricing, or “protocol-agnostic network management” in the preferred Comcast phrase, is inevitable. Redundant rulings like today are not going to change that.”
FreePress meanwhile offered this statement:
“Today’s order makes it clear that there is nothing reasonable about restricting access to online content or technologies. Moving forward, this bellwether case will send a strong signal to cable and phone companies that such violations will not be tolerated.
“But the fight is far from over. A duopoly market — where phone and cable companies control nearly 99 percent of high-speed connections — will not discipline itself. We look forward to working with the FCC and Congress to ensure proactive measures keep the Internet open and free of discrimination, and accessible to all Americans.”
