Security

FCC Opens File-Sharing Probe (Charade) Into Comcast Traffic-Management Practices

The charade is beginning…. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Tuesday the Bush administration would investigate whether Comcast wrongly hinders BitTorrent file-sharing traffic. Remember, the FCC is an arm of the same Bush administration that enlisted the nation’s internet and phone companies to assist with the warrantless snooping of Americans’ electronic communications. So THREAT […]

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The charade is beginning….

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Tuesday the Bush administration would investigate whether Comcast wrongly hinders BitTorrent file-sharing traffic.

Remember, the FCC is an arm of the same Bush administration that enlisted the nation's internet and phone companies to assist with the warrantless snooping of Americans' electronic communications.

So THREAT LEVEL assures that the FCC will conclude that Comcast's practice does not breach the concept of Net Neutrality -- the principle that internet providers treat traffic the same. The FCC will shield Comcast, the nation's second-largest internet service provider, under the commission's so-called "reasonable traffic management" policy.

Comcast says that it doesn't block BitTorrent, or any kind of traffic. Instead, Comcast maintains it delays traffic at peak times to manage congestion.

Investigations by The Associated Pressand the Electronic Frontier Foundation concluded Comcast is interfering with BitTorrent traffic. BitTorrent is a protocol used to efficiently distribute the online transmission of large files -- and it’s a popular tool for online copyright pirates.

Martin's announcement, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, came two months after consumer groups and others demanded the agency fine Comcast and put a halt to the practice.

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