Rich Fiscus
9 Jan 2008 1:15
Apparently hoping to benefit from the visibility of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, who gave Tuesday's keynote address at CES, FCC chairman Kevin Martin spoke with reporters about complaints filed with his agency in regard to the cable giant's "network management" practices.
Last year Comcast came under fire for "delaying" some network traffic, causing a small number of applications, including software using the BitTorrent P2P file sharing protocol, to have connection problems. When asked repeatedly about the issue at the time, Comcast representatives would say only that they don't block any applications on their network.
Comcast's defense for their actions has been that they are allowed to perform "reasonable traffic management." under current FCC regulations. For many this is at the heart of the case against Comcast, because they feel there's malicious intent toward file sharers that's clearly indicated by the methods being employed. Although they don't technically block BitTorrent connections, or those of any other application, their practice of delaying the delivery of certain traffic results in disrupting some customers' connections.
"The question is going to arise: Are they reasonable network practices?" Martin said Tuesday. "When they have reasonable network practices, they should disclose those and make those public."
"We look forward to responding to any FCC inquiries regarding our broadband network management," said David L. Cohen, executive vice president at Philadelphia-based Comcast.
Ironically, in this morning's address Roberts spent some time detailing the company's plan to start offering internet service at up to 100Mbps over the next two years.
Source: Associated Press