Net Neutrality Ideas Enforced
FCC slaps Comcast’s wrist over network neutrality; Sets precedent
The Federal Communications Commission on Friday ruled 3-2 that Comcast overstepped its network management authority by blocking BitTorrent peer to peer traffic, but stopped short of fining the cable company. The move clarifies the boundaries a bit for other carriers and sends the message that the FCC enforces network neutrality principles.
This is good news. It means there is now precedent for the FCC to enforce the idea that service providers should treat all info flowing through the 'Net as equal.
Of course, it also continues to show just how complex this issues is. How deeply should the FCC dip into how a company manages the traffic on its network? What if something (be it P2P file transfers or something more nefarious) stands to disrupt the clean and clear flow of usage for other users? Where does security come into play in all this?
These are things I most certainly don't have answers to, but I'm sure many smarter and better paid will be debating them behind closed doors, in virtual forums and in other places for years to come.
We are living in the future. Twenty years ago, who would have thought we'd have to worry about how hundreds of gigabytes of file transfers among home computer users are handled?
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