Comcast vs. BitTorrent to be focus of today's FCC hearing

COMCAST VS BIT TORRENT TO BE FOCUS OF FCC HEARING
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
The high-profile squabble over Comcast's slowdown of BitTorrent file-sharing traffic -- and broader questions of network handling by Internet service providers -- is set for public scrutiny today at a federal hearing. The hearing, which will be open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis and be otherwise accessible via an "audio-only" Webcast on the FCC site. It's an outgrowth of the agency's recently launched inquiry into what constitutes "reasonable" network management practices by Internet service providers. The FCC in 2005 said broadband companies should not block or interfere with lawful Internet use, unless they're doing so for "reasonable" network management purposes, but revelations that Comcast was stalling uploads to BitTorrent protocol clients raised new questions about what "reasonable" means. The public forum will give the commissioners a chance to quiz company executives and networking experts, and perhaps reveal what they may do next. The regulators have already accepted thousands of written comments from private citizens, interest groups, and corporations concerned about the topic. They may choose, based on the comments, to start a process that would more clearly establish what Internet service providers may and may not do, but they're not obligated to do so.
http://www.news.com/Comcast-vs.-BitTorrent-to-be-focus-of-FCC-hearing/2100-1028_3-6231737.html?tag=html.alert.hed

* Markey to Participate in Today's FCC Broadband Hearing
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) was added to the agenda of today's Federal Communications Commission en banc hearing on broadband-network practices. The commission moved its Feb. 26 monthly meeting to Feb. 25 and from Washington, D.C., to Harvard Law School for two panel sessions and a demonstration of file-sharing technology. No other business is planned for the meeting. The FCC is currently investigating allegations of network-traffic blocking or impeding and generally asking for input on whether and/or how it needs to toughen its broadband-network "open-access" guidelines. Chairman Markey, a proponent of network neutrality, introduced a bill that would enshrine those open-access guidelines in the law.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6534634.html?rssid=193

* NAACP to Protest at FCC Meeting in Boston
The Boston-area office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People plans to protest the FCC's "media-consolidation, anti-diversity and anti-civil rights agenda."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6534740.html?rssid=193

* Internet Forum Headed for Boston (Associated Press)
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FCC_INTERNET_REGULATION?SITE=RIWAR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-02-23-14-22-00

* Internet Wrecking Ball
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Andy Kessler]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120390160543089503.html?mod=todays_us_opinion
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