FCC Orders Comcast to Modify Network Management

WASHINGTON(Reuters) – Comcast Corp has been ordered to change how it manages itsbroadband network after U.S. communications regulators concluded someof its tactics unreasonably restrict Internet users who share moviesand other material.

In a precedent-setting decision, the five-member FederalCommunications Commission voted 3-2 to uphold a complaint accusingComcast of violating the FCC’s open-Internet principles by improperlyhindering peer-to-peer traffic.

"Subscribers should be able to go where they want, when they want,and generally use the Internet in any legal means," FCC Chairman KevinMartin said in a statement.

Comcast said it was disappointed by the decision and was considering all its "legal options."

The ruling by the FCC does not include any fines against Comcast.But it requires the company to cease impeding peer-to-peerapplications, to tell the FCC how the practice has been used, and tonotify customers about other network management practices it adopts inthe future.

The complaint against Comcast was filed by consumer groups who saidthe company had blocked file-sharing services, such as BitTorrent, thatdistribute TV shows and movies.

The case has become a flash point for a growing debate over aconcept known as "network neutrality," which pits open-Internetadvocates against some Internet service providers, who say they need totake reasonable steps to manage ever-growing traffic on their networksfor the good of all users.

RETURN TO SENDER

Comcast has said its network management practices were a reasonablechoice and has argued that the FCC does not have the authority toenforce its open-Internet policy.

Martin likened Comcast’s network management to "the post officeopening your mail, deciding they didn’t want to bother delivering it,and hiding that fact by sending it back to you stamped ‘address unknown– return to sender’."

Martin said the technique ran afoul of the FCC because it was toosweeping and was not disclosed to customers. He said Comcast’sjustification for using it — that it is needed to manage networkcongestion — did not add up.

Martin said he was especially troubled because the file-sharingtargeted by Comcast was a potential competitive threat to the company’sown video services. He said that if the FCC failed to take action inthe Comcast case, it could provoke lawmakers in Congress to slap evenmore explicit rules on broadband providers.

Rival network operators Verizon and AT&T issued statementsimmediately after the vote saying the FCC’s action showed that there isno need for Congress to intervene.

"We have argued repeatedly that there is no need for federallegislation in this area, and today’s FCC action proves that point,"AT&T senior executive vice president Jim Cicconi said in astatement.

Joining Martin to uphold the complaint were the FCC’s two Democratic commissioners, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein.

However, the decision drew sharp dissents from Martin’s two fellowRepublicans, Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate. They said it wasoverly intrusive, and worried that it might inhibit broadband providersfrom cracking down on illegal content like child pornography andpirated material.

McDowell and Tate said the agency should have allowed Comcast andits critics to iron out their dispute without intervention by thegovernment.

They noted that Comcast had already reached an agreement withcritics to change the way it manages its network and cooperate withBitTorrent and others.

"For the first time, today our government is choosing regulationover collaboration when it comes to Internet governance," McDowellsaid. "The (FCC) majority has thrust politicians and bureaucrats intoengineering decisions." (Reporting by Peter Kaplan, editing by TimDobbyn)