Rich Fiscus
11 Mar 2008 1:29
Although nothing official has been decided, while speaking at a the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society last week FCC chairman Kevin Martin indicated he's troubled by Comcast's decision to manage their network by targetting a particular application (BitTorrent), and particularly by their clear attempts to hide what they were doing.
He said "A hallmark of what should be seen as a reasonable business practice is certainly whether or not the people engaging in that practice are willing to describe it publicly."
However, some are questioning whether the FCC has any actual authority over the matter. While both sides have cited the agency's official Net Neutrality priniciples, the fact is the language in the document being referenced are fairly vague, and make no mention of any consequences for violating the principles listed. In fact, the document ends by stating " we are not adopting rules in this policy statement. The principles we adopt are subject to reasonable network management."
That line is, in fact, exactly what Comcast executives say their practice of altering BitTorrent traffic amounts to - reasonable network management. Regardless of whether the FCC agrees with their assessment, there may be little they can do about it beyond requiring detailed disclosure of their practices to customers.