Comcast Sues the FCC Over "Net Neutrality"

You didn't seriously think Comcast would roll over without a fight, did you? It was only a matter of time after FCC's decision in early August, before Comcast took some legal action. And here we are.

Last month, the FCC voted 3-2 to declare that Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent P2P traffic last year was illegal. At that time the FCC ordered Comcast to not just stop blocking P2P traffic, but also to provide more details of its network management policies within 30 days.

According to the Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required), Comcast on Thursday filed suit to overturn the ruling. At the same time, despite this, Comcast indicated it will continue to abide by the earlier FCC order, including the policy information mentioned above.

Comcast executive vice president David L. Cohen said (in a written statement):

"We filed this appeal in order to protect our legal rights and to challenge the basis on which the [FCC] found that Comcast violated federal policy in the absence of pre-existing legally enforceable standards or rules Although the company recognizes the FCC's jurisdiction over Internet service providers, Comcast believes in this case the FCC's action 'was legally inappropriate and its findings were not justified by the record.'"

Besides the obvious "huh?," what does all this mean? Well, it seems that earlier Comcast had argued that the FCC has authority to bring enforcement actions under rules, not principles. The above language is stating that "net neutrality" is not a pre-existing rule, but instead a principle, and thus, unenforceable by the FCC.

Why bother, if Comcast is going to abide by the decision? The ruling sets a dangerous (to ISPs) precedent, and that what they wiped from the books.

Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, which filed the initial complaint against Comcast, sent the following statement to me via email:

"Comcast's appeal is predictable -- the cable giant has a long history of appealing any decision it doesn't like. The FCC is well within its authority to protect the open Internet, either by adopting rules or acting on complaints.

"Presented with an open-and-shut case that Comcast was secretly blocking Internet traffic, the FCC took action on behalf of Internet users everywhere. All the FCC required was for Comcast to disclose the details of its secret blocking and tell the FCC how it will end this harmful practice.

"The future of the Internet is too important to let Comcast tie it up in legal limbo. Congress should act now to pass Net Neutrality laws that clear up any uncertainty once and for all."

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.