Comcast Defends Role As Internet Traffic Cop
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Comcast said yesterday that it purposely slows down some traffic on its network, including some music and movie downloads, an admission that sparked more controversy in the debate over how much control network operators should have over the Internet.
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Amanda Lee of Cambridge received a call from Comcast Corp. in December ordering her to curtail her Web use or lose her high-speed Internet connection for a year.
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Comcast Corp. is joining the crowd of major cable TV and telephone companies venturing into Internet-based phone service, but with a higher price and extra features which the nation's largest cable provider hopes will set its product apart.
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Comcast may have shot themselves in the foot. Lawyers are already circling in the water, and the company could be looking at a world of pain for its sneaky BitTorrent filtering.
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The cable industry is under attack, but Comcast can and will fight back.
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The U.S. Department of Justice asked the Federal Communications Commission to reject Net neutrality rules, arguing that restrictions could hinder Internet growth.
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Are you a Comcast customer? Your bandwidth hogging days may be limited.
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The Justice Department on Thursday said Internet service providers should be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic.
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AT&T Inc. is still evaluating whether to examine traffic on its Internet lines to stop illegal sharing of copyright material, its chief executive said Wednesday.
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Two public-interest groups praised the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for opening three inquiries into network traffic management practices by broadband providers and mobile phone carriers.The FCC announced Monday it would launch inquires into the blocking of some text messages on mobile phone networks, into the slowing of p-to-p (peer-to-peer) traffic, and into what constitutes reasonable broadband traffic management. The three inquires were based on complaints by public interest groups such as Public Knowledge and Free Press and by Vuze, a company that uses the BitTorrent p-to-p protocol to distribute Web-based video.Public Knowledge, Free Press, Vuze, and other organizations filed complaints with the FCC after press reports last year that broadband provider&#160;Comcast slowed BitTorrent traffic. Several public-interest groups also filed a complaint after Verizon Wireless denied Naral Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights group, access when the group asked to the carrier to allow Verizon customers to sign up for text-messaging alerts.&#160;Verizon reversed the decision&#160;a day later.Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice confirmed Tuesday that Comcast has received a letter from the FCC asking the broadband provider to describe its traffic management practices. The FCC inquiry more broadly targets broadband traffic management by all broadband providers.Similarly, the text-messaging inquiry is looking at whether any mobile phone operators should be able to block text messages. And the traffic-management inquiry focuses on what are acceptable traffic management practices industrywide, not just at Comcast.Comcast repeated a&#160;statement it released last week, when FCC chairman Kevin Martin said he planned to look into the complaints. Comcast believes its actions constitute &quot;reasonable network management&quot; and are &quot;necessary for the good of all customers,&quot; the statement said. Comcast does not halt access to any Web site or services, including p-to-p services, the statement said.Public Knowledge, Free Press, and other groups have pushed the FCC and the U.S. Congress to adopt so-called net neutrality rules, which would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. Comcast and other providers have argued that some network management is needed to protect customers against bandwidth hogs.Public Knowledge praised the FCC for its three new inquires, saying the investigations will help define consumer rights online. &quot;These inquiries will go a long way to setting out a road map for determining who will control the Internet, and whether texting will be seen in the same light as wireless voice services,&quot; Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn said by e-mail. &quot;We anticipate that at the end of the day, consumers will have more control over their Internet and wireless experiences than they do now.&quot;Free Press also praised the FCC action. &quot;Free speech should be protected everywhere -- whether it&#39;s text messages, phone calls, e-mails, or the Internet,&quot; Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, said in a statement. &quot;The FCC has started to respond to a growing public outcry, but they shouldn&#39;t drag their feet. Companies like Comcast and Verizon have showed repeatedly that they can&#39;t be trusted. Without quick and decisive action, they&#39;ll keep blocking, manipulating and interfering.&quot;
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Two key sponsors of legislation that would effectively codify the meaning of "net neutrality" asked the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee to hold public hearings into the motivations of Comcast and other broadband service providers in filtering certain categories of traffic.
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The cable television company has taken an aggressive and, critics say, sometimes heavy-handed, approach to protecting its interests in the Maryland county.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)Â should resist calls to impose net neutrality regulations on broadband providers because such rules could hurt the Internet, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)Â said Thursday. The DOJ, in a brief filed with the FCC, said net neutrality rules could "inefficiently skew investment, delay innovation, and diminish consumer welfare." Rules that would prohibit broadband providers from giving priority to their own Internet traffic and prohibit them from blocking or slowing competitors' traffic could also prevent providers from charging fees for priority service, the DOJ said. This could, in turn, cause fees to increase to all broadband users, the DOJ said. "Free market competition, unfettered by unnecessary governmental regulatory restraints, is the best way to foster innovation and development of the Internet," the DOJ said. Net neutrality rules could also discourage broadband providers from investing in new, high-speed services and keep providers from managing their networks efficiently, the DOJ said. The DOJ's comments were in response toÂ an FCC inquiry, launched in March, about whether there's a need for net neutrality regulations. Individuals and organizations have filed more than 27,800 comments in the net-neutrality inquiry, many of them from people who want the FCC to impose net-neutrality rules. Some Internet-based companies and consumer groups have argued that net-neutrality rules are needed after the FCC and U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 did away with regulations that required incumbent broadband providers to share their networks with competing providers. Several telecom executives have complained that Internet companies are not adequately paying network owners for using their pipes. Public Knowledge, a consumer-rights group and net-neutrality advocate, said the DOJ doesn't seem to recognize that most U.S. consumers have few choices for broadband providers. "It is at odds with reality for a Justice Department that approved the largest telecommunications merger in history with a mere press release to now claim that market forces and antitrust enforcement will be able to protect the free and open Internet," Gigi Sohn, Public Knowledge's president, said. "A more vigorous antitrust analysis would have recognized there is a market failure and would have resulted in conditions on the AT&T takeover of BellSouth that would have benefited consumers and Internet companies." The DOJ has failed to recognize that net neutrality would protect consumers and Internet companies from discrimination, she added. "Perhaps the DOJ does not recall that there is very little in the way of market forces to protect consumers," Sohn said. The DOJ, however, said there's little evidence of the need for net-neutrality rules, with only a "few isolated examples" of broadband providers blocking Web content from competitors. "Proponents of 'net neutrality' regulation have failed to show that a sufficient case exists for imposing the sorts of broad marketplace restrictions that have been proposed," the DOJ filing said. In recent years, the DOJ has proposed its own regulations for the Internet. In mid-2006, the DOJ floated a proposal that would require ISPs to retain the Web histories of their users for two years as a way to aid law enforcement investigations. That proposal met resistance from ISPs.
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Internet service providers have to walk a fine line between fairness and profitability. Users want maximum service, and are entitled to honest contracts. Maybe there's a way to help everyone at once.
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Comcast Corp. tried to break into the entertainment business as a star. But it&#39;s looking as if its best role for now may be a cameo.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is taking the middle ground in the net neutrality debate that pits large telecommunications operators against Internet giants. In a report on its examination ofÂ the net neutrality issue, the FTC on Wednesday didn't urge lawmakers to either pass or kill neutrality legislation but instead recommended that policymakers proceed with caution. Net neutrality refers to the concept of an open Internet where all content is treated the same way. Net neutrality regulation, backed by companies such as Google and by World Wide Web pioneer Timothy Berners-Lee, would require telecommunications operators to keep their networks neutral. Operators, however, typically argue that such regulations would stifle innovation. Qwest Communications International and Verizon CommunicationsÂ interpreted the FTC statement as a victory. "The Federal Trade Commission report confirms that there is no problem to fix," said Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president for public affairs, policy and communications, in a statement. "Proposals to impose new regulation actually threaten further advancements in broadband Internet connections." Qwest issued a similar comment. "Qwest is pleased with the findings of the report released today by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that government regulation of the Internet is unnecessary because there is no evidence of market failure or consumer harm," said Gary Lytle, Qwest senior vice president of federal relations, in a statement. An organization on the other side of the fence, the Open Internet Coalition, was pleased to see that the FTC found that consumers have said they strongly prefer the current open access model. But the group warned that Congress and the Federal Communications Commission must act to protect the open Internet. If policymakers wait until operators begin treating traffic differently, it will be very difficult to return to the current open framework, the group said. The SavetheInternet.com Coalition took a similar stance. "This is not the time for caution, but rather forward-looking and decisive action reinstating Net Neutrality once and for all," said S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press, an organization that is part of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, in a statement. The FTC said the broadband industry is moving toward more competition. Thus, in the absence of market failure, policy makers should be particularly careful in enacting new regulations. However, some organizations, including the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, argue that competition is weak, with most consumers having at most two operators to choose from. Recent consolidation, such as SBC's acquisition of AT&T, has shrunk the competitive market. In May, 54 organizations, including Amazon.com and Tivo,Â called for a national broadband policyÂ that includes net neutrality laws. Google's public policy blog, launched in late May, already includes several entries supporting net neutrality.
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Internet decisions aren't always made at Internet speeds.