NCTA, NBCU: FCC BitTorrent Order 'Shackles' ISPs

The Federal Communications Commission's BitTorrent order "shackles" Internet service providers in their attempts to thwart online piracy, leaves network operators guessing about what reasonable network management is, undercuts the agency's own network neutrality proposal and should be vacated by the courts. Those were the messages from the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and NBC Universal in joint comments to the U.S. Federal Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit. The court is preparing to hear oral arguments Jan. 8 on Comcast's challenge to the FCC's ruling that it violated the commission's open access guidelines in its management/blocking of BitTorrent peer-to-peer traffic.