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FCC rules Comcast throttling was illegal
In the latest progression of the FCC versus Comcast, the former has officially ruled that Comast was in the wrong when they decided to throttle BitTorent traffic and acted illegally in doing so. Furthermore, the FCC has ordered Comcast to cease filtering traffic, saying they must use only “protocol-agnostic” means of controlling bandwidth.
The FCC has challenges getting such orders enforced, as currently they do not have any ability to actually prevent or fine Comcast for doing such. However, the ruling does send a very powerful message to Comcast and many ISPs, as well as set the tone for future battles between ISPs and their customers. Comcast will likely appeal the ruling. Even if they do appeal and manage to get the order overturned, they have already lost considerable face in the public eye and it is unlikely they will revert to throttling based on application again.
The FCC has challenges getting such orders enforced, as currently they do not have any ability to actually prevent or fine Comcast for doing such. However, the ruling does send a very powerful message to Comcast and many ISPs, as well as set the tone for future battles between ISPs and their customers. Comcast will likely appeal the ruling. Even if they do appeal and manage to get the order overturned, they have already lost considerable face in the public eye and it is unlikely they will revert to throttling based on application again.
User Comments (3)
Post a comment| canadian on August 1, 2008 2:27 PM | I wish Canada would make it illegal 
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| thejedislayer on August 1, 2008 5:25 PM | The first official win in awhile for N.N.
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| mcbobhall on August 4, 2008 9:13 AM | RE: FCC & Comcast. Can you imagine reading about "battles between ISPs and their customers" in any sort of free market for Internet access. There are no battles between any normal business and its customers. It's time to get more competition in the last mile. Let's start with ending the municipal monopolies of the cable companies. Stupid practice that should have been nipped in the bud.
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