FCC tries to define net rule breach

The Federal Communications Commission is in the early stages of implementing network neutrality rules which aim to prevent Internet service providers from anticompetitive behavior that could undermine innovation or marginalize the consumer. But as the first complaints start to pile up, the agency has to decide what truly constitutes a net neutrality violation.

Since the rules were formally adopted by the FCC in December, MetroPCS, the nation’s fifth-largest wireless carrier, became the first company accused of violating the open Internet code. Today’s most high-profile concerns about the open Internet are related to carriers blocking third-party voice and video providers such as Skype and Google TV. These third-party providers compete against the ISP’s own service or content or both. But net neutrality concerns can come in other forms. Charges levied against Comcast by Zoom Telephonics Inc., a company that makes modems, and Level 3 Communications Inc., a communications company, take a different approach. Zoom accused Comcast of trying to discourage customers from purchasing modems — instead, getting consumers to lease them from Comcast — by making the barrier to entry too high for modem manufacturers. According to Zoom, Comcast’s equipment certification program and retail modem testing regime impose unreasonable demands. The Level 3 complaint alleges that Comcast charges an unfair fee for bringing Level 3’s Internet traffic the final mile to Comcast customers. The toll could be called the Netflix tax, because Comcast wants the money as a return on the surge in traffic from the increase in online video consumption.