AT&T and Verizon say FCC Net neutrality principles work

[Brian Warkoczeski]

AT&T and Verizon say FCC Net neutrality principles work

By Marguerite Reardon, www.cnet.com

June 18, 2008

LAS VEGAS--Executives from AT&T and Verizon Communications said Tuesday 
that it's important for the Federal Communications Commission to take 
action against Comcast for slowing down some peer-to-peer traffic to 
prove that legislation is not necessary when it comes to Net neutrality.

Comcast, the largest cable provider in the U.S., has been under fire for 
months after it was discovered the company had been slowing down 
peer-to-peer traffic on its network. The company claimed it had singled 
out peer-to-peer, file-sharing traffic, because it was eating up an 
inordinate amount of bandwidth, which caused degradation across the rest 
of its customers.

Consumer groups were incensed by the tactic, and the blogosphere filled 
with criticism. And as a result the FCC has been examining whether 
Comcast violated any of the agency's Net neutrality principles. A 
hearing was held earlier this year, and the FCC is expected to make a 
ruling on the matter sometime this summer.

Jim Cicconi, senior executive and vice president for legislative affairs 
for AT&T, and Tom Tauke, executive vice president of public affairs and 
policy for Verizon, told an audience at the NxtComm trade show here that 
it's important for the FCC to make a decision in this case to show that 
the agency's Net neutrality principles are enough to keep service 
providers honest.

"It's in the best interest of the industry for the FCC to make a 
judgment against Comcast in the BitTorrent case," Tauke said. "None of 
us want to be in a world where there is a sense that nobody is watching 
what is going on. We have the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission, 
which have authority to enforce some policies in this area. And if they 
do their jobs properly, they can make positive contributions on how the 
Internet develops."

Cicconi agreed, saying that the FCC has the opportunity to prove to Net 
neutrality supporters and Congress that it can enforce its own policies 
and keep the Internet open.

"The Comcast case has brought the debate over Net neutrality into 
specifics," Cicconi said. He added that this is important because up 
until now the discussion has centered on hypothetical problems. And 
creating new laws to deal with problems that haven't yet occurred could 
be disastrous for the industry.