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In a move likely to delight peer-to-peer (P2P) fans the world over, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has this week ruled against Comcast Corp. in its ongoing efforts to restrict broadband Internet customers from actively sharing online digital media files.
FCC orders Comcast to cease its customer access blocking of P2P services. Image: Comcast.
In its ruling, the FCC, which serves as the communications regulator for the United States, labelled some of Comcast’s traffic-blocking tactics as unreasonable and too sweeping before ordering the prominent Internet service provider (ISP) to change the management of its broadband network.
“Subscribers should be able to go where they want, when they want, and generally use the Internet in any legal means,” outlined FCC chairman Kevin Martin in a related statement.
Martin has also said that Comcast’s P2P access restrictions were the equivalent of the U.S. post office opening a person’s mail, deciding they didn’t want to bother delivering it, and then hiding that fact by simply returning it sender marked ‘address unknown’.
Reuters reports that the FCC’s decision was decided on a vote count of 3-2, which upheld a consumer group complaint accusing Comcast of violating the open-Internet policy laid down by the FCC to prevent the improper hindrance of P2P traffic to distribution services such as BitTorrent.
The order against Comcast now forces the Philadelphia-based communications company to immediately remove its peer-to-peer blocks, reveal to the FCC exactly how restrictions have been applied, and to also provide customers with notification regarding any traffic-shaping implementations it introduces from this point forward.
In response to the ruling, Comcast Corp. commented that it was disappointed by the FCC’s precedent-setting decision and would now be moving to consider all of its “legal options.” The company has argued that the FCC does not have the necessary authority to fully enforce its open-Internet policy.
Comcast, the second largest ISP in the United States, also maintains that its network management practices are a reasonable solution to help prevent ‘bandwidth hogs’ from significantly slowing online access at peak times for those customers looking to use Comcast for general Web surfing and e-mail purposes.
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