Comcast Under the FCC ‘Scope

Remember the BitTorret fiasco that Comcast generated a couple of months ago? Well now the FCC is looking into the matter. Which probably means that a small coalition of CongressCritters had drafted a memo. –

A coalition of consumer groups and legal scholars asked the agency in November to stop Comcast from discriminating against certain types of data. Two groups also asked the FCC to fine the nation’s No. 2 Internet provider $195,000 for every affected subscriber.

“Sure, we’re going to investigate and make sure that no consumer is going to be blocked,” Martin told an audience at the International Consumer Electronics Show.

In an investigation last year, The Associated Press found that Comcast in some cases hindered file sharing by subscribers who used BitTorrent, a popular file-sharing program. The findings, first reported Oct. 19, confirmed claims by users who also noticed interference with other file-sharing applications.

Comcast denies that it blocks file sharing, but acknowledged after the AP story that it was “delaying” some of the traffic between computers that share files. The company said the intervention was necessary to improve the surfing experience for the majority of its subscribers.

Now it is never good to be under the microscope of the FCC. A study will be done, results gathered and a pronouncement made to Congress with recommendations for Congressional action. The fact that this happened may trigger the Net Neutrality that many advocate.

Linky.