Dave Horvath
16 Nov 2007 10:58
Previously, we reported that Comcast was being sued by a customer for blocking peer-to-peer traffic on their network. It was believed that the person bringing up the lawsuit was using his internet connection for illegitimate means and speculation arose on whether or not his case might gain any ground. Well, it seems that the customers aren't the only people upset with Comcast's traffic blocking practices.
Vuze a company which offers legal movie downloads to paying customers via the BitTorrent protocol has recently filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission stating that Comcast is hindering their potential customer base by limiting said customer's bandwidth due to P2P traffic. In the official complaint filed, Vuze is asking that the FCC institute new rules which govern network management by ISPs.
The main complaint is that ISPs advertise that consumers need their service if they wish to watch movies and such online, yet throttle their bandwidth in the process. Vuze VP of Marketing, John Fernandes says, "They say that they're engaging in reasonable network management, but what they're doing is slowing down some traffic."
A group that promotes consumer rights on the Internet known as Public Knowledge praises Vuze's filing saying that Vuze is a good example of the harm that intentionally blocking can cause. Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn said, "Comcast's actions frustrate Vuze's business and force the company to devote resources to play a 'cat and mouse' game with Comcast in order to maintain superior service for its customers. We hope the FCC acts promptly before even more harm is done to more consumers and to more companies."
Source:
Yahoo