14 DAY TRIAL // Comcast subscribers that wanted to share files with the aid of BitTorrent trackers found that the Internet provider had imposed a certain traffic limit. Kevin J. Martin, Chairman of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) said that the previously mentioned company will not be fined, but measures will be taken to ensure such a thing will not happen again.
"The Internet is based upon the idea that consumers can go anywhere they want and access any content they want. When they show they are blocking access to some sort of content, they have the burden to show that what they are doing is reasonable. If they are going to put limits on individual customers if you use a certain amount of bandwidth per month or per hour, they have to be willing to tell their customers more about how it works," says Martin.
According to Comcast, one of the biggest US Internet service providers, the restriction was imposed with the goal of keeping the network in good working condition. People downloading and uploading large media files through BitTorrent trackers would have put large amounts of stress on the bandwidth.
Sena Fitzmaurice, senior director of corporate communications and government affairs with Comcast comments: "We believe that the network management technique we chose at the time was reasonable. The commission has never before provided any guidance on what it means by 'reasonable network management'."
Richard Whitt from Google Washington agrees that "no broadband company, including Comcast, should be allowed to employ traffic management practices that harm the interests of consumers, and the Internet itself, by failing to deliver fair access to all of the Net's resources." At least Comcast will follow FCC's advice and will come up with the adequate solutions.
The FCC will put Martin's proposal to the vote on the 1st of August 2008 and analysts are already predicting that the majority of FCC members will vote in favor of it.