Comcast Guilty of Net Neutrality Violations

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: eweek

FCC holds nation's second largest broadband provider broke network neutrality principles when it throttled P2P traffic from BitTorrent. FCC rejects Comcast contention that network throttling is part of routine network management by broadband service providers.


In the first major test of the FCC's (Federal Communications Commission) network neutrality principles, the agency found Comcast guilty Aug. 1 of secretly degrading network traffic. On a 3-2 vote, the FCC ordered Comcast to stop blocking traffic, disclose to the FCC the full extent of the cable giant's traffic practices and to keep the public informed of its future network management plans.

The FCC said Comcast violated the agency's Internet policy when it blocked P2P traffic by BitTorrent. The agency also found that Comcast misled consumers when it did not properly disclose its P2P policy.

Voting for the sanctions were Republican Chairman Kevin Martin and Democratic Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. Republicans Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate opposed the measure.

"Comcast was delaying subscribers' downloads and blocking their uploads," Martin said. "It was doing so 24/7, regardless of the amount of congestion on the network or how small the file might be."



Read more: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government/Comcast-Guilty-of-Net-Neutrality-Violations/

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Republicans Upset with FCC's Anti-Comcast, Pro-User Stance
While a decision against Comcast's dubious throttling practices is expected within hours, House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, sent a letter yesterday, Thursday, studded with weak Republican clichés which claim that the FCC is improperly inserting itself into a self- governing entity.

Boehner and other Republicans got their facts all wrong. While trying to protect their beloved industries at the expense of the American people, Boehner and Co. allege that barring traffic discrimination "hijacks the evolution of the Internet."

In fact, the companies are trying to hijack and stall the evolution of the Internet. Our country is left behind in high-speed Internet lines and most European and Asian developed countries have significantly better connections that the very country where Internet was invented, precisely because Comcast and many others like them are trying to maximize profits at all expenses.

[Phred42]

1. Great! NOW CRUSH THEM!

[L0oniX]

2. Fuck the republicans. Stomp those asscarrots into the ground.

[pinniped]

3. Fine these bastards $5,000.000.000.00.

That way we won't be forced to watch their shit commercials every 2 minutes on every dam channel.

[AlphaCentauri]

4. It just came out after mayor ISP blocked access to many news groups

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday that Verizon Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint would "shut down major sources of online child pornography."

What Cuomo didn't say is that his agreement with broadband providers means that they will broadly curb customers' access to Usenet--the venerable pre-Web home of some 100,000 discussion groups, only a handful of which contain illegal material.

Time Warner Cable said it will cease to offer customers access to any Usenet newsgroups, a decision that will affect customers nationwide. Sprint said it would no longer offer any of the tens of thousands of alt.* Usenet newsgroups. Verizon's plan is to eliminate some "fairly broad newsgroup areas."



http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9964895-38.html

[dkf]

5. Kick.

I missed this the first time round. Where was I?

[depakid]

6. "self- governing entity"

in other words- like every other Republican policy- a corporate monopoly answerable to NO ONE.