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U.S. Court says ISPs can Regulate Internet Traffic on Peer to Peer Networks
On April 6, 2010, a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) did not have legal authority to sanction Comcast Corporation, an Internet Service Provider (ISP), for implementing certain network management policies. Comcast was managing network capacity by slowing Internet traffic of subscribers who were downloading large files and consuming significant amounts of bandwidth on peer-to-peer file-sharing services such as BitTorrent. The FCC had sanctioned Comcast for not adhering to “net neutrality” principles, under which all Internet traffic is treated equally. Comcast has now succeeded with its court challenge to limit the FCC’s authority to impose sanctions on ISPs for violating net neutrality principles.
This case has disappointed net neutrality supporters, who would prefer that ISPs do not restrict the speed of Internet traffic for certain types of data or applications by prioritizing one type of traffic over another. Austin Schlick, FCC’s general counsel, has also suggested that network management practices of ISPs in violation of net neutrality principles may threaten “cyber-security” and consumer privacy. The FCC is continuing its efforts to develop net neutrality rules, and has extended the deadline for comments on its draft rules to April 26, 2010.
For a copy of the decision, visit:
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/common/opinions/201004/08-1291-1238302.pdf
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