July 31st, 2008
AT&T to FCC: We Ban P2P Traffic
If blocking P2P traffic is bad, isn’t banning it worse?
It’s now been reported not just once, but twice, that AT&T is banning P2P traffic by its wireless customers. That will not make iPhone 3G customers happy.
So if the first item on the agenda tomorrow for Kevin Martin’s Commission is to penalize Comcast for “secretly degrading” Internet traffic by throttling back BitTorrent packets last year, shouldn’t the second item be AT&T’s open and complete degradation of all P2P traffic, on its airwaves?
And wouldn’t you want to look at how AT&T might be managing P2P traffic on the ground as well?
Or, is there only selective outrage — inside or outside the FCC — when it comes to stated violations of the Commission’s own Internet poiicy?
See also: “Network Neutrality & Google’s Openness Before the FCC”
Tom Steinert-Threlkeld is editor-in-chief of Securities Industry News, as well as a long-time media, technology and business journalist. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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