FCC Demands Traffic Management Details from Comcast

Citizens’ Rights Group Applauds Agency’s Action

The Federal Communications Commission today ruled that Comcast (CMCSA) has 30 days to detail its current and proposed plans for Internet traffic management. The company must also have the new approach implemented by year-end.

If Comcast doesn’t comply, the FCC will order it to stop using its current approach by Sept. 24.

Comcast was not immediately available for comment on whether or not it will comply with the ruling.

The FCC action comes almost three weeks after the agency ruled that Comcast’s Internet-traffic throttling violated its policies. Today’s news was instantly hailed by net-neutrality advocates.

"With today's order, the FCC acted to protect the rights of Internet users and set the precedent that unreasonable, discriminatory behavior like Comcast's will not be tolerated,” said Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, the citizens’ rights group that filed the complaint. “It agreed with public interest advocates and technical experts that Comcast's conduct violated FCC principles and was not reasonable network management.”

Comcast came under fire many months ago for allegedly throttling consumers’ P2P traffic, which is typically more bandwidth-demanding than other types.

The claims raised a series of big-picture issues and questions that go the foundation of Internet use as we know it. They include net neutrality, fair use, possible cableco network bandwidth limitations, the definition of bandwidth management and whether consumers are getting what they pay for.

The use of products that support deep-packet inspection (DPI) technology also came into question since, as the name implies, they let operators see into individual user packets.

That, in turn, touched off a debate of whether service providers can perform network management better by managing traffic flows, as opposed to traffic types.

Concerns were also raised as to how else information garnered using DPI technology would be used. Some privacy experts feared carriers would employ it in targeted advertising opportunities.

With many issues to be resolved and questions to be answered, Public Knowledge is asking the FCC to take further action.

"We reiterate our call for a fifth FCC Internet principle: preserving non-discrimination,” said Sohn. “While the Commission's order sets a strong precedent, Internet Service Providers still interfere with customers' traffic. The Commission and the public must keep a watchful eye on ISPs to ensure that these practices cease and that other discriminatory practices do not take their place."

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