Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Comcast Ordered To Stop Blocking Torrents

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Broadband Internet customers of cable television giant Comcast should be free to use file-sharing software, the Federal Communications Commission says.
The commission voted Friday to order Comcast to stop blocking its Internet customers from using BitTorrent, an online software application that enables users to share large movie, TV show and music files, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Commission Chairman Kevin Martin split with his Republican colleagues to join the two Democratic members to produce a 3-2 vote against Comcast. The (NASDAQ:CMCSA) precedent-setting decision was hailed by supporters of so-called net neutrality, which maintains Internet service providers should be barred from discriminating among various types of traffic.
"It was unreasonable for Comcast to discriminate against particular Internet applications, including BitTorrent," Martin wrote in his majority opinion. "They delayed and blocked customers using a disfavored application even when there was no network congestion."
Should have been a 5-0 vote.

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