Intellectual Property Law

FCC's Martin Mum on Net Neutrality

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

Declaring the internet a "tool for democracy," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Friday the "commission is ready, willing and able to take action" on "net neutrality" complaints.

Martin noted that "applications are being singled out" and traffic management has been "arbitrary to specific applications." But he didn't go so far as to say whether ISPs had a right to target BitTorrent or other data.

"I think that will also trigger heightened scrutiny by the commission," he said.

Speaking at the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, Martin said the commission is likely to resolve the heated dispute about Comcast blocking and or delaying BitTorrent traffic and set net neutrality standards sometime in the second quarter of this year. BitTorrent, while used for legitimate reasons, is among the protocols of choice for pilfering copyrighted works on the internet.

During his 30-minute speech in Palo Alto, California, Martin referred to the concept of "reasonable network management," an FCC policy granting internet service providers a license to manage traffic on their pipes.

He noted that no decision has been made, yet he provided some hints. While calling it "troubling" that Comcast initially denied it was interrupting BitTorrent traffic, Martin suggested that internet service providers should disclose upfront to consumers that data may be blocked or delayed.

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.

In September, the Bush administration urged the commission not to enact new rules to prevent telecommunications providers from discriminating against certain kinds of Internet traffic.

"There are benefits to treating certain content differently," the administration wrote. "A number of companies offer services to provide faster delivery of content and/or to avoid some of the congestion and delay on the public Internet. Owners of network facilities have legitimate reasons to manage facilities in ways that lessen congestion and address public safety issues."

Don't forget: President Bush appointed Martin.

Photo symbi

See Also:

• Comcast Using Malicious Hacker Technique Against Own Customers ...
• FCC Opens File-Sharing Probe (Charade) Into Comcast Traffic ...
• Comcast Sued Over BitTorrent Blocking - UPDATED
• Commission Ready To Act in Net Neutrality Fight, Says FCC Chief
• FCC Chief Promises to Investigate Net Neutrality Complaint Against ...
• Comcast Deflects User's Questions - Updated

Full post as published by Threat Level on March 07, 2008 (boomark / email).