Comcast promised today that it would adopt an agnostic approach to Internet traffic and would no longer target and block file-sharing protocols such as San Francisco's BitTorrent.

The nation's largest cable provider said it would work with BitTorrent and ultimately other peer-to-peer file sharing technology providers to come up with new ways to speed traffic efficiently. Comcast said it would still manage traffic during peak periods but would not discriminate on specific applications, a recent practice that prompted federal scrutiny and pressure."This means that we will have to rapidly reconfigure our network management systems, but the outcome will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today's emerging Internet trends," Tony Werner, Comcast's chief technology officer, said in a statement.The decision amounts to a reversal for Comcast, which had been accused of limiting or blocking uploads of large files over BitTorrent during peak periods. An Associated Press investigation last fall on Comcast's practices prompted an investigation and a hearing by the Federal Communications Commission this year. Comcast, all the while, has defended its practices of maintaining smooth traffic delivery.BitTorrent, for its part, is acknowledging Comcast's right to manage data usage and is working on its end to optimize its technology to work with broadband networks. Eric Klinker, chief technology officer of BitTorrent, applauded Comcast's move, saying it puts Comcast on the road to a more open and neutral Internet that is beneficial to all users."An agnostic approach is huge for the Internet, for innovation and Silicon Valley," Klinker said. "There are a lot of businesses booming in this corridor that fundamentally depend on this principal."But open Internet advocates are skeptical of Comcast's change of heart and believe that the federal government still needs to enshrine regulations that protect so-called net neutrality. Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press, a media reform organization, said the announcement doesn't prevent future blocking of traffic or protect emerging innovative applications."Innovators should not have to negotiate side deals with phone and cable companies to operate without discrimination. The Internet has always been a level playing field, and we need to keep it that way," Ammori said in a statement.

Peer-to-peer file sharing protocols have been popular for a number of years. But with the explosion of bandwidth-heavy Internet video, it has placed more strain on the networks of service providers.Much of the P2P traffic has been copyrighted material but that is shifting slowly now more as companies, individuals and even government organizations are using the technology to deliver legitimate information and content, Klinker said.He said BitTorrent users might still face slower traffic but he said Comcast's new management approach will not result in a specific blockage or throttling of their BitTorrent traffic. The new techniques means users might see a general slowdown of all activities during peak periods with no one application targeted.But under Comcast and BitTorrent's plan, both companies will publish their techniques and efforts, so users will be able to know when Comcast's management tools will be applied. The companies will also engage other service providers and technology companies to develop more efficient networks and applications.Comcast is also aided by internal network improvements that should boost speeds, helping relieve some of the traffic crunch. The company plans to convert the first 20 percent of its customers this year to a new delivery standard called DOCSIS 3.0 which, along with other uploading improvements, should free up capacity on the network."We believe that P2P technology has matured as an enabler for legal content distribution, so we need to have an architecture that can support it with techniques that work over all networks," Werner said.