By JOHN DUNBAR, Associated Press Writer
In a precedent-setting move, the FCC by a 3-2 vote on Friday enforced a policy that guarantees customers open access to the Internet.
The commission did not assess a fine, but ordered the company to stop cutting off transfers of large data files among customers who use a special type of "file-sharing" software. Associated Press reports on Comcast's activities led to the complaints filed with the FCC.
Comcast says its practices are reasonable — that it has delayed traffic, not blocked it — and that the FCC's so-called network-neutrality "principles" are part of a policy statement and are not enforceable rules.
Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin proposed the enforcement action and was joined by Democratic commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps in voting for approval. He was opposed by members of his own party, commissioners Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate, who both issued lengthy dissents.
The commission's authority to act stems from a policy statement adopted in September 2005 that outlined a set of principles meant to ensure that broadband networks are "widely deployed, open, affordable and accessible to all consumers."
The principles are "subject to reasonable network management," a concept the agency has not explicitly defined.
While the FCC action did not include a fine, it does require Comcast within 30 days of release of the order to disclose the details of its "discriminatory network management"; submit a compliance plan describing how it intends to stop these practices by the end of the year; and disclose to customers and the commission its new plan.
Martin said Comcast managers were not "simply managing their network, they had arbitrarily picked an application and blocked their subscribers' access to it."
The agency said that Comcast had a motive to interfere. Peer-to-peer applications are used to load video that "poses a potential competitive threat to Comcast's video-on-demand service," it said.
Martin was particularly critical of the company's failure to disclose to customers exactly how it was managing its traffic.
Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said in a prepared statement that the company was "disappointed in the commission's divided conclusion because we believe that our network management choices were reasonable...."
She said the company believes the order "raises significant due process concerns and a variety of substantive legal questions."
The FCC's action means network operators are subject to the FCC's enforcement process and the agency will act on consumer complaints.
Martin told The Associated Press in an interview before the meeting that the agency will consider fines for future violations, but he declined to speculate on how large they would be.
The FCC action arose when bloggers reported that Comcast customers who used file-sharing software like BitTorrent were noticing their transmissions were aborting prematurely.
AP ran tests and reported Comcast "actively interferes" with attempts by some subscribes to share files online, and that the practice involved "company computers masquerading as those of its users."
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Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and the U.S. Telecom Association all released statements Friday saying the FCC action proved there was no need for federal network neutrality legislation.
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