Comcast agrees not to interfere with file-sharing

Friday, March 28th, 2008 

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 CNN article

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) — Comcast Corp., an Internet service provider under investigation for hampering online file-sharing by its subscribers, announced Thursday an about-face in its stance and said it will treat all types of Internet traffic equally.

Comcast had been accused of blocking file-sharing connections and making itself gatekeeper of the Internet.

Since user reports of interference with file-sharing traffic were confirmed by an Associated Press investigation in October, Comcast has been vigorously defending its practices, most recently at a hearing of the Federal Communications Commission in February.

Consumer and “Net Neutrality” advocates have been equally vigorous in their attacks on the company, saying that by secretly blocking some connections between file-sharing computers, Comcast made itself a judge and gatekeeper for the Internet.

This could be an interesting sign of things to come:  “Comcast now says it is in talks with BitTorrent Inc., the company founded by the creator of the protocol, to come up with better ways to transport large files over the Internet. The companies said they want to work out these issues privately, without the need for government intervention.”

And apparently this sort of private sector solution-seeking is paying dividends:

“Verizon Communications Inc. two weeks ago announced the results of a collaboration project with Pando Networks, another file-sharing company. By sharing information with Pando, Verizon was able to speed up file-sharing downloads for its subscribers while reducing the strain on its own network.

AT&T Inc., the country’s largest Internet service provider, has been looking at similar collaboration.

However, phone companies are in a better position than cable companies to deal with file-sharing traffic, since neighbors don’t share capacity on phone lines.

Time Warner Cable is experimenting with another way of managing traffic, placing explicit caps on the monthly downloads for new customers in Beaumont, Texas. Subscribers who go over their allotment will pay extra, much like a cell-phone subscriber who uses too many minutes in a month.“

Who would have ever imagined that the free market might help solve some of these problems?  Shocking.