Ok, so the Associated Press posted an article. Free Press (coordinator of Save the Internet.com), Public Knowledge, consumer groups, and internet law professors at Stanford, Harvard, and Yale all asked the FCC to stop Comcast from blocking BitTorrent. What Comcast is doing is an all out declaration of war on the internet and on internet users' ability to access any content they want on the internet. The groups who brought the complaint want the FCC to declare this blocking is illegal (the FCC has already said it is) and that Comcast is creatively misreading the law... Comcast is essentially asserting a right to block your peer to peer use... and hey, your email, your chats, your... choices. period.
Comcast is saying they can "manage" your internet connection by SECRETLY blocking software they don't want you to run. Comcast forges packets from you telling the network you don't want access to files that you asked for.
he petitions will be the first real test of the FCC's stance on ''Net Neutrality,'' the principle that Internet traffic be treated equally by carriers. The agency has a policy supporting the concept but its position hasn't been tested in a real-world case.
According to the AP:
The long-standing industry practice of treating Internet traffic more or less equally has started to fray. In tests spanning several states, The Associated Press found that Comcast hindered file sharing by subscribers who used BitTorrent, a popular file-sharing program. The findings, first reported Oct. 19, confirmed claims by users who also noticed interference with other file-sharing applications.
The AP explained that this is the number one network neutrality violation--the "nightmare scenario" according to the quoted lawyer.
The Net Neutrality debate erupted in 2005, when the FCC abolished the obligation of providers of Internet service via digital subscriber lines, or DSL, to carry all traffic nondiscriminately (that obligation had been abolished for cable broadband in 2002). The obligation was replaced with the policy statement.
The policy statement is precisely what Comcast is violating. The statement says that consumers are entitled to access all lawful content and to run the applications and services of their choice. That means--without Comcast blocking you--you should be able to download something (content) from a friend over BitTorrent (a service or application).
Phone companies started suggesting that they would like to be able to charge large Web companies more for guaranteed delivery of their traffic as a way to finance the build out of their networks.
Web anchors like Google Inc. and Amazon Inc., joined by consumer groups, opposed the notion, saying it would make Internet service providers the toll keepers of the Internet and enable them to stifle competition and innovation.
The debate was stilled when AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to shelve their plans temporarily to get their respective plans to acquire BellSouth and MCI approved by the FCC."
Too bad Comcast is pretty much a monopoly most places (unless you want DSL, which is usually slower) or else, um the "free market" would take care of this. As it is, we could complain to Comcast, but they'd put you on hold.
Free Press has set up a site for filing complaints with the FCC.
http://action.freepress.net/...
Maybe they'll listen. They should...