[Infowarrior] - Comcast Can Block BitTorrent Again, Court Rules

[Richard Forno]

Comcast Can Block BitTorrent Again, Court Rules Written by Ernesto on  
April 06, 2010
http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-can-block-bittorrent-again-court-rules-100406/

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has overruled  
FCC’s decision to sanction Comcast for unfair treatment of BitTorrent  
users. The ruling, which may also effect FCC’s Net Neutrality  
regulation, means that Comcast could go back to throttling BitTorrent  
users.

In 2008 Comcast was ordered to stop slowing down BitTorrent users by  
preventing them to share files with others. In addition, the company  
had to disclose all “network management” practices.

The whole Comcast debacle ignited a discussion about Net Neutrality  
and eventually led to the FCC’s national broadband plan which was  
released last month. Today, the Court of Appeals overruled FCC’s  
decision in the Comcast case, with three judges stating that the  
commission doesn’t have the authority to require IPSs to keep their  
network neutral.

After appealing FCC’s decision in favor of BitTorrent users, Comcast  
has finally got the verdict (pdf) it wanted. Although it seems  
unlikely that the ISP will pick up its old habit of preventing  
BitTorrent users to seed files, it could in theory do so.

The ruling Court of Appeals ruling states that the FCC did not have  
the power to regulate ISPs network managing practices, which leaves  
the commission with two options. It could appeal at the Supreme Court,  
or it could ask Congress to give it the powers it wants and/or needs.

The latter option will pose potential problems for likes of Comcast,  
with the FCC potentially asking not only for powers to deal with this  
particular case, but for greatly increased powers to regulate the  
entire sector.

For BitTorrent users on Comcast and other US Internet providers  
uncertain times are ahead.