Comcast is now fighting back against the FCC — and, seemingly, the world — in insisting it has the right to intentionally slow down selected file transfers on its network.
The battle began when reporters discovered last year that Comcast was limiting or even blocking BitTorrent transfers by its users. Just weeks ago, FCC commissioners ruled that was a violation of a communication law requiring any ISP to offer unrestricted Internet access. The panel said Comcast’s actions were “discriminatory” and “arbitrary” and pointed out the recent law making it illegal for an ISP to “slow any specific applications.” The company was told to stop immediately and to hand over detailed info about all its traffic management tactics.
Now, though, Comcast has filed an appeal against that ruling, saying it did nothing wrong and has the right to limit traffic as it sees fit. An executive went as far as to claim the FCC’s decision was “legally inappropriate.”
Yeah.
Regardless of what happens here, Comcast is already moving forward with a plan to implement bandwidth caps for all users. Residential customers will be limited to 250 gigs of transferred data per month starting in October. The company’s also eyeballed a system that’d slow down connections of anyone using a lot of bandwidth during busy times. But all that, evidently, isn’t enough. Comcast wants to go after BitTorrent, too.
If have a problem with the idea, you can schedule an appointment to voice your concern. Someone will get back to you Monday between either 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Please make sure you’re home and available during both time windows or you might miss your chance.
