FCC chairman hints at taking action against Comcast

Is the FCC edging toward taking action against Comcast for throttling its customers’ peer-to-peer traffic? Although a final decision is still a few months away, things are not looking good for the cable operator if recent comments from FCC’s Chairman Kevin Martin are of any indication.

Speaking at a Stanford law seminar, Martin said he was disturbed that Comcast initially denied throttling peer-to-peer content, only to later claim the practice was standard and necessary. And though he claims to understand the need for companies to use network management practices, he sees Comcast as going beyond simply managing its network.

He did not discuss what kind of penalty might be imposed if Comcast was found to have violated the FCC’s principles to ensure that traffic flows freely over the Internet, but he did say the case was a good opportunity to establish precedent.