Comcast, Verizon Spur Test of Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission's investigation of Comcast and Verizon will mark the first major test of net neutrality since 2005 when the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for Internet service providers to depart from common carrier principles.

FCC Chair Kevin Martin said this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that the agency was probing allegations that Comcast Corp. interfered with traffic to peer-to-peer sites and that Verizon Wireless had prohibited abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America from sending text messages.

Net neutrality advocates hope that the probe will result in a definitive FCC statement banning Internet access providers from discriminating.

"We're seeking a declaratory ruling that this kind of behavior is prohibited," said Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, which filed an FCC complaint against Comcast. "We're going to see this again and again. Unless the FCC stops it, or Congress stops it, it's not going away."

Comcast said Wednesday that it had not been formally notified of the investigation, but intends to cooperate. The company also repeated that it doesn't block customers from visiting any Web sites, but admitted it takes steps to manage traffic.

The state of the law has been unclear since June 2005, but prior to that, Internet service providers appeared to have been bound by net neutrality principles prohibiting discrimination. In a March 2005 case, the FCC extracted a $15,000 fine from broadband provider Madison River Communications to settle charges that it had blocked Vonage's Voice over Internet Protocol service to some consumers.

But a Supreme Court decision in June 2005 allowed the FCC to consider broadband an "information service," which isn't subject to common carrier anti-discrimination rules.

Three months later, the FCC issued a statement that endorsed net neutrality in principle, but was vague about enforcement. While the principles included the statement that "consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice," the FCC also said in a footnote that the principle was "subject to reasonable network management."

Comcast maintains that its actions constitute reasonable network management, and therefore don't violate FCC principles. "We believe our practices are in accordance with the FCC's policy statement on the Internet where the Commission clearly recognized that reasonable network management is necessary for the good of all customers," said David L. Cohen, executive vice president, in a statement Wednesday.

Last year, Verizon Wireless briefly refused to allow the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America to send text messages to its supporters. After an article about the issue appeared in The New York Times, the company changed its position.

Public Knowledge also filed an FCC petition in that case seeking a declaratory judgment stating that picking and choosing which groups can send text messages is impermissible. Verizon Wireless did not respond to requests for comment.

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