01/09/2008, 9:55am, EST
Wednesday, January 9thComcast may face FCC fines over BitTorrent blocks
Comcast is under investigation and could be subject to fines over its tactics of throttling BitTorrent traffic on its cable Internet service, the Federal Communications Commission has revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show. FCC chair Kevin Martin acknowledged that it was looking into complaints from advocacy groups and lawyers, both of which accuse Comcast of violating basic principles of network neutrality by preferring certain data types over others. If found to be violating FCC rules, the cable provider could face fines as high as $195,000 for every affected subscriber, Martin claims.
The Internet provider has typically denied any blocking attempts despite an Associated Press investigation proving the contrary. Comcast at first claimed no interference whatsoever but later admitted that it was "delaying" BitTorrent and a handful of peer-to-peer services using the Gnutella network. The technique is said to involve software from SandVine that severs the link between peers if certain transfer conditions are met, reducing the number of peers available in a BitTorrent transfer and blocking some Gnutella transfers outright.
A date has not been set for when the FCC hopes to complete its investigation, though Comcast says that it 'looks forward' to responding to any requests from the FCC to cooperate with the investigation.
Filed under: industry
Other story tags: FCC, Comcast, BitTorrent
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While the FCC has been "harsh" to Comcast, it has to do with net neutrality.
The local Comcast office is right across the street from my house, and when they look out of their office windows, they get a view of the backside of my satellite dish. :-)
But don't think this will be the end of it. It's easy to foresee their 'unlimited' service being more limited with nice fine print and other exceptions/restrictions.
Hell, maybe they'll 'tier' their service. Basic internet, $50. Add Bittorrent for $14.95. Want Limewire/Gnutella? That adds another $10. Both with daily usage limits. Or get PPD (pay-per-download) for just $2 (it's Comcastic!).
Nice one testudo. That is very possibly the route they will take, no matter how annoyingly messed up it might be for the customer.
Moreover, such regulation would be a means to implement censorship indirectly. Since it is impossible to determine what indecent material is and the rules are unfairly enforced, often broadcasters are forced to curb speech to be safe. The FCC used these rules to force Howard Stern to Satellite.