FCC to quiz Comcast on Bittorrent hoo-hah (and filmtypos)

It's IT Blogwatch: in which the FCC agrees to investigate allegations that Comcast isn't net-neutral. Not to mention changing one letter of a movie title...

[Previously on IT Blogwatch: Comcast resets BitTorrent users; net neutrality lovers lash out]

The AP's Peter Svensson reports:

The Federal Communications Commission will investigate complaints that Comcast Corp. actively interferes with Internet traffic as its subscribers try to share files online ... A coalition of consumer groups and legal scholars asked the agency in November to stop Comcast from discriminating against ... BitTorrent, a popular file-sharing program ... Comcast denies that it blocks file sharing, but acknowledged ... that it was "delaying" some of the traffic ... [but] subscribers who asked [Comcast] about interference on their connections ... were met with flat denials. [more]

Ryan Paul adds:

Comcast ... told us that the company's traffic control mechanisms conform to the FCC's definition of "reasonable network management" practices ... The FCC today indicated that "reasonable" practices should be transparent ... Comcast has been extremely secretive about the scope and extent of its traffic management activity and has even threatened to fire employees who discuss specific details of the P2P blocking with anyone outside of the company. [more]

Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins is master of the eye-catching headline:

FCC May Fine Comcast Up To $1.77 Trillion ... a coaltion of consumer groups ... asked the FCC to fine Comcast $195,000 per affected subscriber. I’ll give you a second to digest that ... Comcast has 9.1 million subscribers to their digital services ... Run that through your calculator. The fine could reach upwards of $1.77 trillion! ... violating the trust of your userbase ... can cost a bit more than a few days of bad PR in the technology blogosphere. [more]

Jason Harris had his eye caught:

We don't really think Comcast will be forced to fork out the projected $1.77 trillion, but we do hope they get scraped through the mud on this one. They completely disregarded their entire customer base and should receive far more than just bad press as a result of this. If you are a company and you're going to filter network traffic, be transparent and disclose it up front. If not, be ready to pay up to Mr. Martin. [more]

And it made Scutter sigh:

Well, I guess I can expect my cable fees to go up again. I wonder if this will be called a "Federal cost recovery fee" as a line item on my bill. [more]

But Cynical Cynthia Brumfield's bothered:

It's hard to get too worked about this "probe" because Martin had no choice but to say the Commission would investigate. The whole investigation might end up a charade, or a half-hearted effort, but not because Kevin Martin wants to cater to a big corporate interest ... Still, Martin's public commitment to investigating the complaint is an opening for consumer advocates to garner more attention for the issue. [more]

Mike Masnick suspects double-standards:

When AT&T agreed to keep its network neutral (sort of, but not really), FCC chair Kevin Martin made it clear that he wouldn't hold AT&T to its concessions on network neutrality. However, when a cable company, such as Comcast, starts doing some traffic shaping... well, that's a different story ... if Comcast feels it needs to do this kind of traffic shaping, that's one thing -- but there's simply no good reason ... not to be upfront and let its customers know about this. In fact, that appears to be a part of the FCC's thinking, as well. [more]

But Brad Stone believes that other ISPs have their fingers in the trigger:

AT&T has been talking to technology companies, and members of the MPAA and RIAA, for the last six months about implementing digital fingerprinting techniques on the network level ... Internet civil rights organizations oppose network-level filtering, arguing that it amounts to Big Brother monitoring of free speech, and that such filtering could block the use of material that may fall under fair-use legal provisions — uses like parody, which enrich our culture. [more]

So Janko Roettgers has this advice:

Thought Comcast-type traffic shaping was bad? Then better don't switch to At&T anytime soon. They seem to have even worse ideas ... Martin told the audience of a CES panel on Tuesday that he wants to make sure that "no consumer is going to be blocked". Maybe he can take a look at AT&Ts plans next. [more]

And finally... Changing one letter of a movie title:

• Tron
• Happy Feet
• 101 Dalmations
• Pirates of the Carribean
• The Man in the Iron Mask
• ...and many, many more [some may not be safe for work]
  

Buffer overflow:

• Duncan Riley: Facebook, Google And Plaxo Join The DataPortability Workgroup
• Joel on Software: Undergraduate programming
• GoMo News: Microsoft (finally makes a wise mobile search move) Buys FAST Search and Transfer
• Data Center Knowledge: Data Centers on Cargo Ships?
• Rich Menga: Is Apple Security By Obscurity?
• Dan Sullivan: IT is Dead, Again

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Eric Lai: Is FAST enterprise search better than Google's?
• Mike Elgan: More on packing for the tropics
• Martin MC Brown: Filemaker's Bento database is the DB for the iTunes generation
• Mark Hall: 42TB storage for Mac
• Ken Mingis: New Mac Pros and Xserves this week; so what's coming next week?
• Barbara Krasnoff: CES vendors: forget the pink
• Bert Latamore: Quantifying innovation as a key corporate value
• Shark Tank: RTFM - Read the front of the manual!
• Shark Bait: Oh, THAT doorbell

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You too can pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Gates' last hurrah at CES (and try-try-try again)
• NYT distrusts e-voting now (and Photoextreme)
• Huge spammer indictment in motown (and A:OLDJOKE.COM)