Comcast Has Quite A Week: Gets In Trouble For Blocking Content And For NOT Blocking Content

from the can't-win dept

Fri, Aug 1st 2008 12:43pm — Mike Masnick

It's been quite a week for Comcast, hasn't it? First, under a baseless legal threat from Andrew Cuomo that it was not blocking certain objectionable content, Comcast caved and agreed to start blocking that content. Then, just a few days later, the FCC (as was widely expected) concludes that Comcast violated its "open internet" guidelines by blocking certain content. So, apparently, the mixed message lessons of the day for Comcast: it's okay to block content when the government says so (with no legal basis), but it's not okay when you block stuff yourself (or so says the government, perhaps with no legal basis). Whatever you may think of the results of all of this, you'd have to forgive Comcast for not particularly liking politicians meddling in its services.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: blocking content, fcc, traffic shaping
Companies: comcast

15 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 1 Aug 2008 @ 1:08pm

Good to see that Comcast got nailed on this issue, although Cuomo should work on removing his head from his ass before he worries about other things.

First.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jason, 1 Aug 2008 @ 1:38pm

Re:
Yes.

And then no.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sticky Tape Guru, 1 Aug 2008 @ 2:14pm

Err...
Yeah, well it is Comcast's fault for providing service to such a branded community.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Branded Community, 1 Aug 2008 @ 2:28pm

Branded Community & Shell Entities
Branded Community,
Shell Entities.

Comcast sucks, they suck big Shell Entities
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 1 Aug 2008 @ 3:25pm

Comcrap Branded Community of comcast.
A Shell Entity of CORPORATIONS which are nothing but a bunch of Patent trolls roaming the Earth.

I can't wait for the day that politicians understand the difference between "For the People... " and "For the Corporations... "
[ link to this | view in thread ]
bobbknight, 1 Aug 2008 @ 4:10pm

Marios' Little Boy
[ link to this | view in thread ]
bobbknight, 1 Aug 2008 @ 4:11pm

Re: Marios' Little Boy
It would be ironic if Comcast turned around and told Marios' little boy to pound sand
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Darksurf, 1 Aug 2008 @ 4:48pm

Don't Blame Comcast
Comcast is just trying to abide by all the laws, including the ones no one knows about that are just hanging around so someone can be sued or fined. Cuomo is the dumbass here, if anyone should be in trouble/fined/slapped on the wrist it should be Cuomo.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Nick (profile), 2 Aug 2008 @ 5:39pm

The spread of child porn, music and film that violates copyright, and hate speech NEED to be the collaterally damage that is experienced in order to insure liberty and freedom. Karma will take care of the violators in the long run.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Aug 2008 @ 10:13pm

Re:
yup... they will be the politicians of tomorrow, so better get ready to kiss our asses now. Pucker up buttercup!!

The idea that you feel that file sharing is somehow violating freedom, and the pursuit of happiness is hilarious.

Be careful how you use the term violators. I'm sure that there are things that you do in your daily routine that I can find laws against. Such as spitting outside, having sex in any position other than missionary, oral sex, being naked in front of your children, etc. The list goes on and on. Granted, I have no idea where you live, but I bet it is in the US. So be careful how you use words... Karma has way there too.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Spectere, 3 Aug 2008 @ 2:04am

Re: Don't Blame Comcast
Cuomo is definitely a dumbass but I still don't think that excuses Comcast.

First of all, Comcast caved into Cuomo's threats despite them not holding any water, regardless of what adverse affect it might have on their customers (after all, no filter is perfect). Had Comcast refused to respond, Cuomo wouldn't have had a leg to stand on and they wouldn't have made themselves look terrible to all of their customers.

Second of all, that definitely doesn't excuse Comcast's history of filtering their customer's connections. I actually prefer having a slower, yet less restricted, DSL connection (3Mbps/512Kbps) than having a fast yet questionable cable connection (when I lived in Maryland, I got 8Mbps/1Mbps through Comcast but found myself completely unable to seed legal torrents until I put a heavy-handed firewall between my network and theirs).

Long story short: yes, I blame Comcast.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Davey, 3 Aug 2008 @ 12:28pm

NetCo blowback
While Cuomo is wrong and bad on this, it's been the cablecos that bribed, lied, and cheated to fight being common carriers the way the old telephone companies are/were. If Comcast and the rest want to avoid dilemmas like this, all they have to do is get laws passed that make them common carriers with no responsibility for, and no control over, content.

Until then, screw 'em. They're no martyrs to free and open information -- they and their colleagues are the core of the problem.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Computer Consulting Blog, 4 Aug 2008 @ 9:51am

security, etc.
It's interesting to me that so often we are so far behind the curve on so many legal issues because of the quick expansion of the Internet, yet this is the type of item that makes the radar. I think the back-and-forth of this particular suit definitely illustrates how copyright laws, content laws, etc. as they have always existed in the past need to be revised to account for the complexity of the Internet (and how often current laws don’t really quite fit the nature of the Internet). I don't know that at this point it's possible to catch up with technology in terms of different laws, yet I'm also not sure how they’re going to revamp laws and make them airtight to make sure there is no confusion. I guess it will be interesting to see which other stories unfold.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
people are stupid, 15 Jan 2009 @ 7:24am

Re: Re:
"The idea that you feel that file sharing is somehow violating freedom, and the pursuit of happiness is hilarious."

That statement sir makes you a moron.

It isn't file sharing that's the true complaint its the illegal tactics used to catch those people. Such as coming into their homes to take their computers based on false information to sue them.

The RIAA is responsible for so many illegal activities its not even funny. How many people have they sued based on false information? They demand information from your ISP (personal information...who the hell do they think they are to ignore the fact that they would need a warrant to do such a thing) and meanwhile their actions are ignored by the government because...tada corporate america. Its total crap and I can't wait for the day it happens to you while your scratching your balls trying to figure out wtf is going on.

I'm not without complete sympathy for you though as you just simply do not have a clue.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
دردشة, 11 Jul 2009 @ 9:17am

tankyo..
[ link to this | view in thread ]