January 16th, 2008
FCC starts Comcast cover-up on net neutrality
The Bush FCC has launched an “inquiry” which will likely kill net neutrality complaints by deeming throttling of BitTorrent traffic “reasonable.”
Having watched the FCC of Kevin Martin, and other Bush Administration agencies, transform Internet access from a highly competitive marketplace into a cable-Bell duopoly, I’m more than skeptical that anything will come out of the new proceeding.
You may disagree. I hope you’re right.
The FCC is responding to petitions from net neutrality proponents, seeking Comcast’s arguments before answering them. It has not launched any of its own investigations about violations of net neutrality.
As Broadband Reports notes, Comcast has been throttling BitTorrent, an open source file sharing protocol, for months. Its argument is that this is “network management,” when it is in fact the protection of its control over video delivery.
The business model of cable operators like Comcast is to charge both sides of every video transaction.
Cable networks are charged for reaching the consumer, sometimes in the form of ad minutes. Consumers are charged for having the programs available, whether or not they watch them.
Protocols like BitTorrent threaten this model by allowing Internet users to quickly-and-easily move the programs they want over the Internet. You can see just how threatening this is through open source programs like Miro.
Those sending the files save money by having the traffic load dispersed, which is why many other open source projects, like OpenOffice, use BitTorrent to deliver software.
The FCC is “going after” Comcast only because the Bells, which also oppose net neutrality, are its most favored ISPs. Comcast is cast as the bad guy, but its lawyers will argue they’re just “delaying traffic,” in the name of “protecting” their network.
This is a legal fiction. Peer-to-peer traffic does not threaten the integrity of the Internet. What it threatens is the integrity of Bell and cable business models, while delaying needed reform in content business models.
Once Comcast’s nonsense is approved by the FCC, the Bells will also be free to transform the Internet into something more akin to their mobile phone networks, where the network gets a cut of everything and controls what you can access.
The only good news is that this is 2008. Raise holy heck now, make this a political issue, and we might get some real action next year.
Meanwhile all I can do is be steamed.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 01/16/08
