FCC Head: 'Comcast Should be Punished for BitTorrent Throttling'

In a big win for network neutrality proponents, Chairman Kevin Martin said the ISP had "arbitrarily" blocked Internet access, regardless of the level of traffic, and failed to disclose to consumers that it was doing so.

It's been a long time coming, but it seems the FCC may finally punish Comcast for violating the agency principles that guarantee everyone open access to the Internet. The ISP has long been throttling BitTorrent as part of supposed network bandwidth management efforts, but many have proven that it did so even at times when bandwidth should not have been an issues like weekends and evenings.

FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin has concluded that Comcast improperly blocked BitTorrent transfers and will recommend the following: that Comcast be sanctioned, it must stop BitTorrent throttling, it must fully divulge how often it blocked BitTorrent, and tell customers its future plans for network bandwidth management.

His fellow commissioners will vote on his recommendations on August 1st, and with two others on the five-member commission being network neutrality proponents it should be enough for a majority.

"The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers access to the Internet," said Martin. "We found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our principles."

It would be the first time that the FCC has sanctioned an ISP for violating open-access rules that are in place to guarantee that they cannot favor some services over others. It is sure to please network neutrality proponents who have long complained about Comcast's BitTorrent throttling practices.

The move is certain to serve notice to other ISPs that they can't arbitrarily throttle BitTorrent, but it may also perhaps sadly accelerate proposals for "consumption-based billing" instead.