Comcast Disclosure Draws Cautious Praise

Sam Gustin writes: Comcast's adversaries in the nearly year-long battle with the cable giant over net neutrality offered cautious praise in response to the company's disclosure of its new network management policies.

The company made the disclosure late Friday night as required by a Federal Communications Commission order sanctioning the company for blocking peer-to-peer traffic on its network.

Comcast acknowledged its policy of blocking peer-to-peer uploads in times of heavy congestion since 2005, and confirmed it will now move to a "protocol agnostic" approach of network management --  a policy it first announced earlier this year. Instead of targeting a particular type of activity -- such as peer-to-peer traffic -- the company will instead focus on users who consume the most bandwidth, and temporarily slow their traffic.

In response, network neutrality advocacy groups offered cautious praise to the company, as well as raised some concerns.

"We're encouraged that Comcast has complied with the F.C.C.'s order in such great detail -- a welcome reversal of the company's past behavior," said Ben Scott, policy director for the Free Press, which filed the original complaint. "This newfound candor is a reminder of the positive impact of F.C.C. oversight."

Noting that Comcast has filed a suit to overturn the F.C.C.'s ruling even as it complies with it, Scott called the appeal a "particular concern since Comcast's filings concede that the company has been blocking peer-to-peer applications in the precise manner that the F.C.C. and independent testers alleged."

Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, said: "We appreciate the time and effort Comcast has taken to compile a network management plan. It is a very detailed and very technical document that deserves close scrutiny from the F.C.C. and from private-sector observers. It appears that the plan does not discriminate against any particular protocols and does not involve using Deep Packet Inspection."

But Sohn raised concerns about the company's announced policy of a 250GB monthly cap on bandwidth, as well as other aspects of the company's new plan.

"Will consumers end up paying more for less bandwidth to use?" Sohn asked. "Is it fair to consumers to punish them based on usage lower than the advertised speed?"

One thing is for sure: the days of Comcast locking horns with its adversaries are far from over.