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Comcast limits public access to FCC hearing by paying to fill seats

27 February 2008 0:23 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 24 comments

You have to give it to Comcast. They're nothing if not consistent. When they've been asked to reveal specifics of their controversial "network management" techniques that have BitTorrent using customers up in arms they really didn't want to talk about it. Now, as if to emphasize that point, they've found a way to control attendance of a FCC hearing that was open to the public.

In order to make sure they were playing to a more sympathetic audience, Comcast paid people off the street to attend, and even bused them to Harvard Law School. Once inside these people took up seats that would otherwise have gone to some of the people denied entry due to limited space.

Unfortunately for Comcast, representatives of an organization called Save the Internet were also there, and had their cameras handy. They took pictures of a Comcast employee handing out papers to the people they bused in. Later, some of the same people were photographed sleeping during the meeting. According to Save the Internet's website, "They arrived en masse some 90 minutes before the hearing began and occupied almost every available seat, upon which many promptly fell asleep."

A Comcast representative later acknowledged that they were responsible for bringing in these individuals, and also that the people seen with matching yellow markers attached to their shirts were identifying themselves for Comcast organizers. However, she denied that the company was attempting to keep out the public, stating that they were only there as surrogates for Comcast employees who had been encouraged to attend. In essence they were saving a a seat.

On one hand this matches one of the "seat warmers'" description of his duties. On the other hand, if we just took Comcast's word for things the FCC wouldn't be holding a hearing in the first place.

Permalink to this article | Topics: IPTV Lawsuits & Legislation

Comcast considers official limits on downloads (7 May 2008)

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Comcast wants a P2P "Bill of Rights" (16 April 2008)

Rogers to compress HD quality, like Comcast (6 April 2008)

Comcast HD quality suffers under compression (3 April 2008)

FCC chairman hints at action against Comcast (11 March 2008)

FCC chairman ready to take on ISPs over net neutrality (25 February 2008)

FCC hearing Monday on ISPs' network management practices open to public (25 February 2008)

BitTorrent developers working on encryption to defeat ISP interference (18 February 2008)

Comcast defends BitTorrent blocking in response to FCC (13 February 2008)

FCC to consider net neutrality and ISP network management (12 February 2008)

With FCC investigation looming, Comcast repeats same old argument (14 January 2008)

CES 2008: FCC chairman promises investigation of complaints against Comcast (9 January 2008)

FCC Chairman has Comcast in his sights (2 December 2007)

EFF details evidence of Comcast traffic management (29 November 2007)

Comcast in more hot water over blocked content (16 November 2007)

Comcast gets sued for blocking BitTorrent traffic (15 November 2007)

FCC complaint filed against Comcast regarding "network management" (3 November 2007)

Comcast employees put in the middle of traffic shaping debate (29 October 2007)

Senators urge committee chairman to hold Net Neutrality hearing (26 October 2007)

Comcast P2P filtering energizes Net Neutrality debate (26 October 2007)

Comcast P2P traffic filtering confirmed (19 October 2007)

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Discuss this article!
iluvendo (Senior Member) 27 February 2008 0:34
Bad business tactics as usual. Greed has no bounds. Now Comcast has been caught with their pants down, they will pull every underhanded trick to save their a$$ets. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27 February 2008 0:35
21Q (Senior Member) 27 February 2008 0:35
Ok now comcast is really effing pissing me off. Is it weren't that it was the only cable Internet provider they would be gone. As soon as verison is done adding in fiber optic cables I'm going right to them. Does anyone believe, or rather even trust comcast anymore? I certainly don't. [ + quote]
Burnasty (Member) 27 February 2008 1:06
Everyone I know is saying,"I can't wait for verizon." They are going to make money hand over fist because of comcasts mistakes. [ + quote]
ripxrush (Newbie) 27 February 2008 1:49
what can i say... WOW!!! i just... haha, WOW i am glad that i have a choice of 3 providers oin my area 1 being comcast, 1 being AT&T & last beign what is known here as astound but bought out 2 or so years ago by wave broadband! they are at least better than the other 2! Comcast is gonna loose there ass, what happens to everyone that legally uses there internet for streaming liek netflix, xbox live, the PS3 version of the xbox live, unbox threw tivo!? [ + quote]
Ludikhris (Member) 27 February 2008 1:53
I'm a firm believer of waiting till I smell smoke before I yell fire. Comcast until this point hadn't actually done much that was shady. This is shady. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 27 February 2008 5:52
ah commiecast if you only gave damn you could revolutionize the industry without raping the consumer. [ + quote]
Icanbe (Member) 27 February 2008 8:51
"A Comcast representative later acknowledged that they were responsible for bringing in these individuals, and also that the people seen with matching yellow markers attached to their shirts were identifying themselves for Comcast organizers. However, she denied that the company was attempting to keep out the public, stating that they were only there as surrogates for Comcast employees who had been encouraged to attend. In essence they were saving a a seat." Huh? I smell a big pile of BS! Does anyone else? Way to piss people off comcast. [ + quote]
7thsinger (Senior Member) 27 February 2008 8:55
Amazing...it's utterly amazing how low these creeps are willing to stoop. Their time will come...it has to. Far too many customers are being stuffed by these bastards. [ + quote]
navi1199 (Junior Member) 27 February 2008 11:13
Hey comcast!, can you get a crap load of those homeless bums to come to my college classes. So when am not in class I can still be marked present cause I had a homeless bum heating my seat! what a fantastic idea right! [ + quote]
xempler (Newbie) 27 February 2008 13:16
Hahahahaha. Come on Comcast, is all this trouble worth it. Why not just offer your customers proper High Speed internet without trying to decieve them at every turn. [ + quote]
cougar128 (Newbie) 27 February 2008 13:44
*Quote:* "However, she denied that the company was attempting to keep out the public, stating that they were only there as surrogates for Comcast employees who had been encouraged to attend. In essence they were saving a a seat." I find it amusing that not even Comcast's own employees will show to support this fight. [ + quote]
pryme_H (Senior Member) 27 February 2008 14:03
Comcast ought to be boycotted for these unfair business practices. In the end, I hope justice will prevail! [ + quote]
varnull (Senior Member) 27 February 2008 14:19
*Quote:* The FCC held center stage this week with the announcement that when it comes to net neutrality, they're mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore. The FCC's Chairman � sounding not-unlike a grammar school principal � vowed to "correct" ISP's discriminatory practices towards certain types of internet traffic, while hearing from a dizzying array of experts on the issue, sparked by complaints over Comcast's filtering activities. Among those testifying was Verizon, which stated they didn't have to engage in throttling � an ironically true admission indeed, given the Big V's policy of simply cutting off those who download too much. Comcast, for their part, was busy badmouthing the AP story that busted them, and engaging in a game of semantic roulette, denying they've ever "blocked" BitTorrent traffic. http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/lots-learn-land-legal Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work.... Commercial "pay for" software = made by software developers who want paying... see where I'm going with this? [ + quote]
mspurloc (Junior Member) 27 February 2008 17:29
This settles it for me. Comcast, from top to bottom, is filled with subhuman garbage. They should all be put in prison. [ + quote]
defgod (Newbie) 27 February 2008 19:56
This doesn't come as a surprise to me. These kind of tactics are business as usual with most large corporations. Mostly because they don't care about anything but their bottom line. MONEY and how much they can "steal" from the average consumer. [ + quote]
atomicxl (Newbie) 27 February 2008 20:58
*Originally posted by defgod:* MONEY and how much they can "steal" from the average consumer. I'm glad you put that in quotes. Its an odd theft where the "victim" solicits theft from the thief and continues to request that he be robbed every month. LOL, and actually suggest that others goto the thief and be robbed as well. And when the thief starts to steal even more money from them, they continue to gladly give it to him every month. LOL, that doesn't sound like a bad business model at all. If consumers will gladly be fleeced, you can't blame people for being sheep herders. [ + quote]
cleverick (Newbie) 27 February 2008 22:41
now that's sad. [ + quote]
fgamer (Member) 27 February 2008 23:47
Ok this doesn't sound like it's legal but i could be wrong...it must be a way for Comcast to be reported for this!!!! I can't imagine a big corporation being allowed to get away with something like this. If you ask me this is pretty low...I would hope that something being pulled like this would have reprecusions! [ + quote]
cousinkix (Newbie) 28 February 2008 3:57
Maybe you can complain to that Congressman, who was planning his own Comcast hearings on Capitol Hill. They don't do this ticket BS there and those meetings arte open to the public on a first come, first served basis. No bum is gonna save a seat for you either... [ + quote]
Icanbe (Member) 28 February 2008 8:46
*Quote:* *Originally posted by defgod:* MONEY and how much they can "steal" from the average consumer. I'm glad you put that in quotes. Its an odd theft where the "victim" solicits theft from the thief and continues to request that he be robbed every month. LOL, and actually suggest that others goto the thief and be robbed as well. And when the thief starts to steal even more money from them, they continue to gladly give it to him every month. LOL, that doesn't sound like a bad business model at all. If consumers will gladly be fleeced, you can't blame people for being sheep herders. Well the unfortunate part is some people have no choice but to deal with certain companies, because they have no other choices in there area. [ + quote]
Joshewah (Senior Member) 28 February 2008 17:02
I see a few people mentioning Verizon. I must have missed something, but are they entering the cable market? TV and internet? In all areas? Links would be much appreciated as I have comcast currently and am getting throttled royally. :D [ + quote]
navi1199 (Junior Member) 28 February 2008 22:42
meh dont worry about it. the next time your internet fails to work, just call a bunch of hobos over and make them sit infront of the company's doorstep. and if they threaten to sue you, say comcast did it! [ + quote]
axelrod (Newbie) 26 March 2008 8:13
This is not a surprise! Sort of expected a sleazy attempt like that from Comcast. It's time that Comcast be broken up into a few smaller companies to end this monopoly. The customer always suffers, through price gouging, attempts to impose "the companies policy onto customers, etc. etc. The list is far too long to post. Comcast has gone as far as limiting emails sent & received by blocking port 25. My church has a remote server that only uses port 25. Comcast did not like the amount of traffic going to that server so they put a block on port 25 on all Comcast recipients of the church's email including my personal account. So in essence Comcast shut down any communication via email to and from the church server that were Comcast customers. Just to show another way the CUSTOMERS are HINDERED by Comcast. BTW, they denied the practice and transferred me to.....and no exaggeration 17 people. Finally I reached Comcast's Security who by the way put a block on everyone's port 25 that was associated with the church. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 20 April 2008 17:25
*Quote:* On one hand this matches one of the "seat warmers'" description of his duties. On the other hand, if we just took Comcast's word for things the FCC wouldn't be holding a hearing in the first place. I think this sums it up quite nicely. It is a sad day when comcast and other organizations have to sink to this low level so that their shady games remain under wraps. [ + quote]