FCC Ready To Slam Comcast For P2P Filtering

It looks as though Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is ready to lay the hammer down on Comcast regarding their wanton BitTorrent blocking. As was evident in the recent net neutrality hearing, Martin is hellbent on protecting consumers by establishing rules for transparency within ISPs. In an interview with AP, Martin noted that “The commission has adopted a set of principles that protect consumers’ access to the internet, and we found that Comcast’s actions in this instance violated our principles.” He went on to say that they “arbitrarily” blocked internet access and failed to disclose this to customers.

Martin’s aim now is to punish Comcast via an order he is trying to push through his fellow commissioners. If passed, Comcast would be forced to stop P2P blocking, provide details on its P2P blocking practices and inform its customers about its plans for the future. Fortunately, he only has to secure two more votes on the five-person panel to make his plan a reality. And there are two Democrats on the commission that are staunch supporters of net neutrality and are likely to follow his lead. So it looks like Comcast will be getting the big FCC boot in its arse in the very near future. Bout’ friggin’ time if you ask me. UPDATE: The WSJ is reporting that Martin is not looking to add a fine in addition to the bill against Comcast. [AP via Arstechnica]