Source : Ottawa Citizen

A decision by the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission could ensure the Internet remains open to all and that companies such as Bell Canada have no right to restrict the flow of traffic on their networks.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday he will recommend that Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable company, be punished for its traffic-shaping policies that slow the connections of customers suspected of illegally downloading music and movies from peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent.

Mr. Martin said Comcast's actions violate principles the FCC has created to protect consumers. His investigation into Comcast's practices led him to conclude the company "arbitrarily" blocked Internet access to thousands of consumers without disclosing it was doing so.

Mr. Martin forwarded his recommendations, which included punitive action against Comcast, to the other four members of the FCC board yesterday. Members will vote on Mr. Martin's recommendations Aug. 1.

The decision could have a profound effect on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission investigation into Bell Canada's practice of traffic shaping, according to net-neutrality advocates.

Net neutrality is the idea that people should be given equal access to all content on the Internet, regardless of the topic.

"It shows that south of the border they are going to have a neutral network and that throttling is going to be illegal," said Steve Anderson, national co-ordinator of the Campaign for Democratic Media. "It has huge consequences. It shows if we want to be in line with an open, non-discriminatory Internet, the CRTC is going to have to make similar rulings here."

Bell fired back yesterday, saying the FCC decision won't affect its hearing before the CRTC. The company said it will continue shaping traffic.

Bell has argued that its network is being gummed up by people trying to download and share large files, and that by shaping the Internet activities of heavy users it can keep network traffic manageable.

Phillippa Lawson, director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa, said the FCC decision will set an important precedent in Canada.

"This is very influential from a policy perspective," Ms. Lawson said. "Ultimately, we are asking, 'Is this a good or a bad thing?' The chief of the FCC is saying he thinks this is a bad thing. I think that is influential in Canada."

The CRTC would not comment on Mr. Martin's decision.

Tom Copeland, chairman of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, said his association would likely reference the FCC decision in its next filing to the CRTC, which is due by July 17.

The CRTC's hearing has drawn the attention of some of the biggest Internet companies in the world. Last week, Google weighed in, saying Internet service providers should not be allowed to meddle with customer connections.

"The Internet is simply too important to allow them to act as such as gatekeeper," Google said in a submission.

Skype Communications, which is owned by eBay, has also submitted comments that are critical of Bell's practices.

Cisco Systems, Rogers and Telus have filed comments in support of Bell.

© Ottawa Citizen