• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, March 11, 2008

Federal Communications Commission chair Kevin Martin once again indicated that the agency is considering requiring Internet service companies to disclose to consumers whether they impede traffic to applications in order to manage traffic.

In a speech at Stanford Law School, Martin said several factors went into deciding whether particular traffic management practices were reasonable, but that network operators at a minimum should make their policies known.

"First and foremost, adequate disclosure of the practices" must occur, he said. "A hallmark of what should be seen as a reasonable business practice is certainly whether or not the people engaging in that practice are willing to describe it publicly."

The comments were similar to remarks he made last month at Harvard Law School at a hearing on whether Comcast's net traffic control practices violate net neutrality principles.

A consortium of advocacy groups as well as the online video company Vuze filed complaints against Comcast last year, after an investigation by The Associated Press revealed that the company was impeding traffic to peer-to-peer networks.

Comcast initially denied that it interfered with traffic, but later admitted it slowed some visits to BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer sites in order to manage traffic on its network. Comcast executive vice president David Cohen testified at the Harvard hearing that the company's interference with peer-to-peer sites presents a "virtually imperceptible effect on a very small number of users."

Martin said the agency will likely rule on the matter before July, but didn't give any indication of whether the FCC will require Internet service providers to take steps other than to disclose their traffic management practices.

Net neutrality advocates agree that companies should disclose any traffic management practices, but say that simply informing consumers about interference doesn't legitimize it.

"Whether or not a practice is disclosed does not affect its reasonableness," said Marvin Ammori, counsel to Free Press, which had filed a complaint against Comcast.

Ammori added that requiring disclosure alone won't do much to protect consumers, because most people only have a choice of two Internet service providers--their local cable company or telecom. "The market won't respond to mere disclosure," he said. "Disclosure might work in a market setting where there are 10 or 20 market providers you could choose from."