Comcast Under Investigation by FCC – Yeah Baby!
It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys. From ArsTechnica today:
A study conducted last year by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and independently verified by the Associated Press revealed that Comcast interferes with BitTorrent and Gnutella sessions by sending TCP "reset" packets to users. Despite the growing body of unambiguous evidence, Comcast still denies allegations that it specifically targets BitTorrent. Comcast vice president David Cohen told us that the company's traffic control mechanisms conform to the FCC's definition of "reasonable network management" practices (which are allowed by the FCC), but critics don't agree that Comcast's management is anything "reasonable." The FCC today indicated that "reasonable" practices should be transparent.
I don't mind a company making a buck, but when they say they're selling access to the internet only to actually allow access only to those things they want you to have access to, then I think I should get a big discount - and disclaimer. Also, I should be able to opt-out and get access to everything.
Clearly, I'm not the only one who thinks so, and I'm glad that the FCC is going to get involved. The problem is, with so much having already been done, it's not an issue of if they are doing it, it's a question of what will be the outcome of the "investigation". Again, from Ars:
The FCC's investigation will have significant implications for the network neutrality debate. Proponents of network neutrality legislation believe that the FCC's current standards and the manner in which those standards are enforced is largely inadequate to deter Internet service providers from engaging in abusive network
manipulation.
Will there be net neutrality, or will the practice of filtering be given a green light? I'm hoping that we get the former. I'm worried we'll get the latter.