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Comcast Finally Files Suit Against FCC Over Traffic Shaping
Following up on their threat last year to sue the FCC over sanctions imposed, Comcast has finally filed suit, stating that there are no statutes or regulations that support the FCC's authority to stop traffic shaping procedures. "First, let's recap: After months of proceedings, hearings, and investigations, the FCC concluded on August 1, 2008 that Comcast was discriminating against certain P2P applications using deep packet inspection techniques. These methods thwarted the ability of users to share video and other files via BitTorrent. 'Comcast was delaying subscribers' downloads and blocking their uploads,' declared then FCC Chair Kevin Martin. 'It was doing so 24/7, regardless of the amount of congestion on the network or how small the file might be. Even worse, Comcast was hiding that fact by making [affected] users think there was a problem with their Internet connection or the application.'"
Doesn't this go back to the telco's being granted common carrier status, by their claim that they don't know what's going over their lines, therefore they aren't responsible for things like people using the telephone to commit crimes, or other things like child porn, etc? Kind of like how the gun makers provide a means of harm being done, but are free from the actions the individual takes? So, if they are shaping traffic, they obviously know something about what's on their lines, therefore they should not allowed to have common carrier status anymore, right? I'm sure if the FCC threatened to revoke their common carrier status, Comcast et al would pipe down quicker than you could blink an eye.