Feds Ponder How To Police Internet Traffic

FCC Holds Internet Regulation Hearing, Examines Ways ISPs Are Hindering Web Traffic

(AP)  Federal communications regulators on Thursday will examine the ways Internet service providers have been blocking and slowing Web traffic for some of their customers.

Conspicuously absent from the list of panelists are any major Internet service companies, including Comcast Corp., which has been under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission for delaying file-sharing among some of the company's customers as a way to better manage network traffic. Consumer groups had complained that the company was secretly blocking some connections between file-sharing computers.

Legal scholars, executives from smaller technology companies, and representatives from consumer and other interest groups will testify at the hearing at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

An FCC spokesman said other major Internet providers, such as Time Warner Cable Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., were invited to speak but declined. However, some of the panelists were recommended by the companies, he added.

Brett Glass, chief executive for Lariat.net, a local Internet service provider based in Laramie, Wyo., is the only Internet provider executive scheduled to speak.

Comcast had an executive speak at the FCC's first hearing on network management issues in late February. It said that hearing covered issues pertinent to the company and the second hearing should be broader than any individual company's issues.

Philadelphia-based Comcast said last month it would treat all Internet traffic equally, reversing its previous stance. And, on Tuesday, it said it will develop a "best practices" for Internet providers to deal with file-sharing traffic, which can place substantial loads on the networks of cable companies. One file-sharing company, Pando Networks Inc., said it will support Comcast's initiative.

"At this point, the most productive course is to continue our business to business discussions and to pursue the process that was outlined in our announcement with Pando," Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said in a statement.

She said the FCC and others will be briefed as the company makes progress.

At the second hearing, the FCC will examine what constitutes legitimate network management practices and how providers can block illegal content while ensuring that consumers can download legal files.

The agency will also review whether companies need to better disclose certain terms of their Internet service to customers, such as limits of files that can be shared.

Among those scheduled to speak are: Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig; Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America; George Ou, an independent consultant and former network engineer; Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press; and Blake Krikorian, CEO of consumer electronics company Sling Media Inc., a subsidiary of EchoStar Corp.

[rf35]

Good luck with that fantasy belief.

The FBI''''s Carnivore System has been monitoring everything going in and out of your computer for about a decade now.
Posted by shanev137 at 07:53 AM : Apr 18, 2008

If that were true, I''d probably be sitting in jail rather than commenting on this story.

[lochlan-2009]

"Philadelphia-based Comcast said last month it would treat all Internet traffic equally, reversing its previous stance."

Alright, how are they getting payed. The only way you can move a companies hand to benefit their clients and the masses in this country is by putting a pile of money larger then they would have normaly made in a place that they have to move their hand to, or penalize them which our goverment doesn''t do to big corporations anymore.

[shanev137]

Just like you don''''t want the feds monitoring every phone call you make or receive, they shouldn''''t monitor all the data that goes into and out of your computer.

--------

Good luck with that fantasy belief.

The FBI''s Carnivore System has been monitoring everything going in and out of your computer for about a decade now.

[secondthink]

The solution is obvious, you should only get you fair percent of bandwidth based on the number of people online. Your big file download should just get slower during prime time, but should pick up again late at night. But it should never stop.

ComCast isn''t alone here, my ISP (AT&T) will kill a large download by pretenting to be me. Sending a reset command supposedly from me to the download server telling them that I cancelled the request.

[rf35]

My ISP has bandwidth "tiers" users can choose from. The higher the tier you pay for, the more bandwidth you get. If someone does a lot of file sharing, the highest tier might be worth the extra money. I don''t download all that much, so the lower tier suits me just fine.
The term "Ploice Internet Traffic" worried me when I saw the headline. I am totally against any sort of "policing" of the Internet. Policing infers monitoring, and I find that unacceptable. Just like you don''t want the feds monitoring every phone call you make or receive, they shouldn''t monitor all the data that goes into and out of your computer.

I would be extremely upset if my activity were restrained in any way. I do not do any file sharing but I do download a lot of files. I pay good money for a certain bandwidth and I expect to be able to use it any time I choose.

[Razzl]

If the companies have some rational scheme that defines file sizes or types which would be delayed without regard to who sends or receives them, that might be acceptable; but to give favored status to traffic by which company originates it clearly is not.