The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reportedly voted in favor of an "enforcement action" against Comcast regarding its network management practices.
Chairman Kevin Martin and Democratic Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein approved the action, according to press reports. That gives it enough votes to move ahead, though all four commissioners must cast their votes before the decision is final.
"It is always hard to respond to rumors, however, we continue to assert that our network management practices were reasonable, wholly consistent with industry practices and that we did not block access to Web sites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services," a Comcast spokeswoman said in an e-mail Friday night. "We do not believe the record supports any other conclusion."
Free Press, the Washington-based interest group that called on the FCC to investigate Comcast's network management tactics, was pleased by the news.
"It adopted, this order would send a strong signal to the marketplace that arbitrarily interfering with users' online choices is not acceptable. Internet service providers do not get to decide the winners and losers online," Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press, said in a statement. "Should Comcast finally be held accountable for its illegal practices, it will be the direct result of historic public involvement in this precedent-setting debate."
Chairman Martin said on July 11 that he would not recommend a fine against Comcast regarding its network management policy, but will instead demand that Comcast stop hindering consumer access to certain applications.
An investigation that started earlier this year found that Comcast is "broadly and arbitrarily" blocking certain applications like BitTorrent, which in turn, denies "subscriber access to the legal Internet ...
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