Net Neutrality Jujitsu Puzzles Regulation Advocates
from the unlikely-allies dept
Last week, the AT&T-backed group Hands Off the Internet coalition sent a letter to the FCC asking that they investigate Comcast for violating network neutrality for blocking BitTorrent traffic. Given HOTI and AT&T's very public position against any regulatory efforts to require network neutrality, this seemed like a strange position. Naturally, folks like Harold Feld at Public Knowledge are suspicious of HOTI's motives. Feld suggests that Verizon, which has poured millions of dollars into building a residential fiber network, is hoping to give Comcast (one of its biggest competitors) a black eye for trying to over-sell the capacity of its network. I have no doubt that Verizon is happy to highlight these differences, since it recently rolled out symmetric FiOS service that allows equal upload and download speeds. But it doesn't appear that Verizon is a HOTI supporter, so that doesn't seem likely to be a major motivation. AT&T has been less aggressive with its fiber rollout than Verizon, so it has less to crow about in the performance department. Another possibility is that AT&T is just irritated at Comcast for sparking a renewed round of network neutrality debate by violating network neutrality principles in such an obvious and bone-headed fashion.Feld's argument also suggests that the real problem here isn't a lack of network neutrality regulation so much as a lack of transparency and accountability. The millions of Comcast customers in Verizon's service area do have at least one meaningful alternative in broadband access. The problem is that Comcast has oversold its service and refused to give straight answers about its routing policies, leaving a lot of customers with the mistaken impression they were getting unlimited Internet service. What's needed, then, is to require Comcast to tell customers the truth about what they're getting so customers can make an informed decision. The FTC already has the authority to investigate deceptive marking practices and fine companies that mislead their customers. Of course, while Verizon might not block your BitTorrent traffic, they are likely to turn your private information over to the government. So that's not a great option either. The ultimate solution here is to find ways to enhance competition in the broadband market.
Filed Under: net neutrality
Companies: at&t, comcast, hands off the internet
