Net Neutraility
Monday, April 19th, 2010
On April 6, a federal court handed down a ruling that could imperil the future of Internet freedom and peer-to-peer file sharing. The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit ruled that the Federal Communications Commission does not have the authority to enforce “net neutrality,” which requires Internet service providers to treat all use over their networks the same. Internet freedom advocates warn that the ruling undermines the FCC's ability to serve as the watchdog of the Web. The ruling may also open the way for cable and phone companies to support certain websites and online services over others, as well as jeopardizing the viability of "torrenting," a file-sharing method popular with students used primarily for music and video.
The case was based around a challenge of the FCC by Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company. In 2008, the FCC put out an order that barred Comcast from denying service to its subscribers who used BitTorrent, a torrenting platform. Comcast argued that the FCC did not have the authority to do this, because the agency was trying to enforce policy principles rather than laws, and that the FCC had already set low regulation standards for broadband in 2005. Broadband is not subject to regulations placed on other forms of communication that require providers to treat all traffic equally, because the FCC classifies it as an "information service" under Title I of the Communications Act, which it does not have the authority to regulate. If the FCC had classified it as a "telecommunications service" under Title II, it would have the authority.
Critics fear that the ruling could mean that service providers like Comcast will be able to reduce service to or block sites and services that compete with their interests, or enable them to make deals with other companies to do the same. For example, BitTorrent users share video, which cuts into Comcast’s television business. Comcast argued that they should be able to maintain their own network, and BitTorrent slows the network down for other users. BitTorrent has been estimated to account for 43% of all Internet traffic, according to the torrent-tracking blog Torrentfreak. While the act of torrenting itself is not illegal, it is often used for sharing copyrighted material.
In a separate March 31 ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson ordered the shutdown of Isohunt, a popular BitTorrent client. It is the latest in a long line of shutdowns,
including Mininova, Oink, and the Pirate Bay, and could be a precursor to more extensive action taken against torrent providers.
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