Punish Comcast for throttling, says FCC majority
p2pnet news view P2P | Freedom:- A bipartisan majority of the Federal Communications Commission has reportedly voted to punish Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, for blocking consumers’ access to the Net.
Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have voted with chairman Kevin Martin for an “enforcement order” requiring Comcast to stop blocking, and to publicly disclose its network management practices, says Free Press, quoting media reports,
The order would be adopted once all five commissioners have cast their vote in favour.
Last fall, tests revealed Comcast was blocking users’ legal P2P traffic by sending fake signals that cut off the connection between file-sharers.
The Max Planck Institute in Germany later confirmed Comcast was blocking traffic not only during times of peak use, but at all times of the day and night.
The vote follows an FCC investigation, launched in response to filings by Free Press and members of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, urging the federal agency to stop Comcast’s harmful blocking.
Since January, tens of thousands of people have filed comments with the commission, and hundreds have attended public hearings at Harvard, Stanford and Carnegie Mellon universities.
“This vote reflects the bipartisan support for protecting consumers’ access to the free and open Internet. Comcast’s blocking is a flagrant violation of the online rights established by the FCC,” says Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press and author of the filings.
“If adopted, this order would send a strong signal to the marketplace that arbitrarily interfering with users’ online choices is not acceptable. Internet service providers do not get to decide the winners and losers online.
“Should Comcast finally be held accountable for its illegal practices, it will be the direct result of historic public involvement in this precedent-setting debate. We look forward to seeing the order, and commend the FCC for conducting such a thorough investigation on behalf of Internet users everywhere.”
Petition for Declaratory Ruling:
»www.freepress.net/docs/fp_et_al_···ling.pdf
Comcast Complaint:
»www.freepress.net/docs/fp_pk_com···aint.pdf
(Thanks, Robb)
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New York Times – New worm transcodes MP3s to try to infect PCs, July 18, 2008
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July 26th, 2008 at 8:11 am
“The order would be adopted once all five commissioners have cast their vote in favour.”
in other words they must only grease one commisoner good enough to get away with it?
Wow, THAT is a cheap one when oyu compare it with all the millions they have already invested in the sandvine and similar companies throttleing equipment!
July 26th, 2008 at 9:33 am
My ISP does this. How do I get them to stop?