FCC rules Comcast violated Internet access policy

[Brian Warkoczeski]

FCC rules Comcast violated Internet access policy

By JOHN DUNBAR, Associated Press Writer

August 1, 2008

WASHINGTON - A divided Federal Communications Commission has ruled that 
Comcast Corp. violated federal policy when it blocked Internet traffic 
for some subscribers and has ordered the cable giant to change the way 
it manages its network.

In a precedent-setting move, the FCC by a 3-2 vote on Friday enforced a 
policy that guarantees customers open access to the Internet.

The commission did not assess a fine, but ordered the company to stop 
cutting off transfers of large data files among customers who use a 
special type of "file-sharing" software.

Comcast says its practices are reasonable — that it has delayed traffic, 
not blocked it — and that the FCC's so-called network-neutrality 
"principles" are part of a policy statement and are not enforceable rules.

Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin proposed the enforcement action and 
was joined by Democratic commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael 
Copps in voting for approval. He was opposed by members of his own 
party, commissioners Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate, who both 
issued lengthy dissents.

The commission's authority to act stems from a policy statement adopted 
in September 2005 that outlined a set of principles meant to ensure that 
broadband networks are "widely deployed, open, affordable and accessible 
to all consumers."

The principles are "subject to reasonable network management," a concept 
the agency has not explicitly defined.

While the FCC action did not include a fine, it does require Comcast to 
stop its blocking practice by the end of the year. The company must also 
provide details to the commission on the management techniques it has 
used and let consumers know details of its future plans.

Martin was particularly critical of the company's failure to disclose to 
customers exactly how it was managing its traffic, saying this action 
"compounded the harm."

Martin said Comcast managers were not "simply managing their network, 
they had arbitrarily picked an application and blocked their 
subscribers' access to it."

Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said in a prepared statement that 
the company was "disappointed in the commission's divided conclusion 
because we believe that our network management choices were reasonable...."

She said the company believes the order "raises significant due process 
concerns and a variety of substantive legal questions."

The FCC's action means network operators are subject to the FCC's 
enforcement process and the agency will act on consumer complaints.

Martin told The Associated Press in an interview before the meeting that 
the agency will consider fines for future violations, but he declined to 
speculate on how large they would be.

The FCC action arose when bloggers reported that Comcast customers who 
used file-sharing software like BitTorrent were noticing their 
transmissions were aborting prematurely.

The Associated Press ran tests and reported Comcast was indeed cutting 
off transfers by masquerading as its one of its customers.

The report led to a complaint by public interest group Free Press and 
others that the company was violating agency principles.

Comcast has said it did not block traffic, but delayed it, and only 
among users of the file-sharing, peer-to-peer programs that were 
responsible for taking up a disproportionate share of bandwidth and 
endangering service for other customers.

The company has pledged to stop using its network management practice by 
the end of the year and switch to a "protocol agnostic" technique that 
will not single out any particular type of user.

The action is the first test of the agency's network neutrality principles.

The enforceability of the principles have been questioned by many, 
including Martin, who said when the policy statement was adopted in 2005 
that they "do not establish rules nor are they enforceable documents."

Members of Congress, including presumed Democratic presidential nominee 
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, have pushed for network neutrality 
legislation without success.

Large Internet service providers have fought such regulation, arguing 
that companies that spend billions on their networks must be free to 
manage traffic.

Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and the U.S. Telecom Association 
all released statements saying the FCC action proved there was no need 
for federal network neutrality legislation.

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