NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] 2nd FCC Commish: Don't twist "reasonable" into "discrimination"
Recording an introduction for tomorrow's Network Neutrality webcast and debate, FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps revealed his position on recent complaints that Comcast interfered with Peer-to-peer file-sharing uploads. Copps will call upon his fellow commissioners to supplement the FCC's 2005 Network Neutrality Policy Statement with formal rules. While Friday's comments by the FCC Chairman seemed to focus on Comcast's string of outright denials and deceptions, Copps is concerned with the discrimination itself. "Broadband network operators cannot twist reasonable network management into a not-so-reasonable mechanism for blatant network discrimination," he said. As early as 2006, users in DSLReports' forum for Comcast HSI started making scattered reports of a strange kind of protocol behavior with certain P2P connections. By May of 2007, users had discovered the details and began to provide reproducible evidence involving the secret use of Sandvine's P2P Policy Enforcement by the ISP. The device injects forged TCP "Reset" packets, tearing down established connections between peers. Despite the evidence, Comcast continued to deny the allegations until the Associated Press and the Electronic Frontier Foundation both independently tested and confirmed users' reports in October. Since then two class-action lawsuits and the formal FCC complaint have been filed by customers, Video-on-Demand competitors, and grass-roots organizations. The FCC held its first hearing on the matter no February 25th at Harvard Law School. Tomorrow's webcast is hosted by Internet TV Channel VON TV (www.VONTV.net) at 2 PM ET. While billed as a debate with "an intense exchange of views," the participants appear to share similar views on Network Neutrality. (After 87 Republican and 119 Democratic Presidential Primary debates, Americans are getting used to this.) Live participants include Harold Feld, from the Media Access Project; Ken Ferree, of the Progress & Freedom Foundation; Marvin Ammori, general counsel for Free Press and Lawrence J. Spiwak, from the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies. VON TV legal commentator Marty Stern will moderate. The webcast will include the recorded comments of Commissioner Copps and market analysis by Paul Gallant, a Standford Group analyst discussing current and future Wall Street reactions to the Network Neutrality debate. The site www.VONTV.net will host both the live event and will make available an archive for later viewing. Source: >www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=830205