FCC to Punish Comcast in Internet Probe
by Frank Jovine on 07/11/2008 in Business, Internet
(Reuters) – The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Thursday he will recommend that Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet, The Associated Press reported.
Comcast, the second largest U.S. Internet service provider, has been accused of blocking some Web traffic via services such as file-sharing applications like the popular BitTorrent used by consumers to share large media files.
Comcast has “arbitrarily” blocked Internet access, regardless of the level of traffic, and failed to disclose to consumers that it was doing so, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told the news service.
Comcast has denied it blocks individual traffic and said the use of network management is essential to avoid congestion and impairment of online video applications like Veoh or voice-over-Internet Protocol services like Vonage.
Martin will circulate an order recommending enforcement action against the company on Friday among his fellow commissioners, who will vote on the measure at an open meeting on Aug. 1, the news agency said.
The order follows an FCC investigation prompted by complaints about Comcast by Internet advocacy group Free Press and digital media company Vuze Inc.
Curt
Jul 11th, 2008
I can see why the service providers would want to watch their bandwidth, but there are better ways to do it. I’m sure they aren’t the only ones doing it.
Frank J
Jul 11th, 2008
Comcast and many others do monitor bandwidth, but I can’t see why for what they charge for internet access. I am not a fan of Comcast compared to the three companies I had before I moved from New York (Optimum Online) and Las Vegas (COX). By far the best in service and speed was Optimum Online.
Steve
Jul 18th, 2008
I don’t use P2P services, but I spend a lot of time reading Usenet newsgroups. I just discovered that after you’ve downloaded 2 gigabytes from Usenet, Comcast blocks all Usenet access until the 25th of the following month. No error message. Comcast’s news server just silently ignores all requests. Comcast online support also ignores queries about Usenet while you’re blocked, so I had to find this by digging through the FAQ files.
sikanrong
Jul 18th, 2008
VICTORY!!! Eat my you know what, comcast!! Holy crap, i seriously want to go get a big cake and some beer and just party-down right now. They deserved this *so* much, I hope the FCC will continue to take action against unlawful blocking of sites/services like this. As for the previous comment, cox is actually a bit more sinister about blocking competitive sites (cox has blocked craigslist for 3 months now, because it draws from their own online classifieds traffic). So, hopefully COX will feel the wrath of the FCC next. HOORAY!!!
Anotherjoe
Jul 18th, 2008
You might not know this, and you might not care. What I’m not asking you is to care, I am however asking that you pay attention two what is happening with your own internet provider. First they make small changes, and no one notices. Than they might take away a site or two. Small disagreement but nothing big enough to make anyone act against it. One by one they will all start to control what, where and how you browse the internet. Pretty soon its full of sites that only sponsor companies that pay the ISP or are affiliated with it. You must understand the sincerity of this. The internet is the only free speaking-uncontrolled media we can create & change. Don’t let them take it from us as they did the TV Stations.