In what might be seen as an exercise in crisis management, Comcast finally agreed Thursday to alter the way it manages its network, committing to a "protocol-neutral" method in which any traffic throttling would occur only at peak times and without targeting certain applications.
Comcast has targeted large media files using the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol. News reports of the practice resulted in a public outcry, a Federal Communications Commission public hearing and renewed efforts to pass a Net-neutrality law.
In a joint press release with BitTorrent, Comcast said it will switch to the new technique by the end of the year, resulting in a "traffic-management technique that is more appropriate for today's emerging Internet trends."
FCC Chairman Concerned
BitTorrent CTO Eric Klinker praised Comcast's new "understand[ing of] changing traffic patterns," saying Comcast "wants to collaborate with us to migrate to techniques that the Internet community will find to be more transparent."
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin offered tepid praise for Comcast's announcement and expressed concern that the current discriminatory practice will continue into 2009. "I am pleased that Comcast has reversed course and agreed that it is not a reasonable network-management practice to arbitrarily block certain applications on its network," Martin said in a written statement. He commended the company for "admitting publicly" its practices.
Martin expressed concern, however, that Comcast won't end the discrimination against BitTorrent until the end of the year -- and even longer in some markets. "While it may take time to implement its preferred new traffic-management technique, it is not at all obvious why Comcast couldn't stop its current practice of arbitrarily blocking its broadband customers from using certain applications. Comcast should provide its broadband customers as well as the commission with a commitment of a date certain by when it will stop this practice," he said.
FreePress Calls for FCC Action
The FCC will hold a second public hearing on the matter on April 17 at Stanford Law School in Palo Alto, Calif. With Comcast's announcement, that hearing should be markedly different than the first one at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass. The FCC said the upcoming hearing "offers us the opportunity to explore more fully what constitutes reasonable network-management practices," including the ability to block pirated movies and music and child pornography.
Marvin Ammori, general counsel for FreePress, a nonpartisan media-reform organization, called on the FCC to continue moving forward to take action against Comcast -- and for Congress to pass Net-neutrality legislation.
"[W]ith Comcast's history of broken promises and record of deception, we can't just take their word that the Internet is now in safe hands. This doesn't change the urgent need for the FCC to take action," Ammori said. "This agreement does nothing to protect the many other peer-to-peer companies from blocking, nor does it protect future innovative applications and services. Finally, it does nothing to prevent other phone and cable companies from blocking. Innovators should not have to negotiate side deals with phone and cable companies to operate without discrimination."
But Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, said the agreement shows the parties can come to the table on this issue. "It is an example of how Net neutrality should work if all the parties involved work out their differences in a similar manner," he said in an e-mail. "But it is only a first step in showing off the potential impact of a Net-neutral environment in which all sides work together to keep the Internet from being overlegislated."