Comcast seeking to overturn FCC ruling
WASHINGTON - Comcast Corp., the second-biggest US high-speed Internet service provider, asked a court to overturn a Federal Communications Commission ruling that it violated policies intended to keep the Internet open.
The FCC on Aug. 1 found Comcast had improperly blocked peer-to-peer programs such as BitTorrent that are used to share videos and other files, and told the company to stop. Comcast said it temporarily slowed some users' service when its network was congested.
"The commission's action was legally inappropriate and its findings were not justified by the record," Comcast executive vice president David Cohen said yesterday in an e-mail. Cohen said Comcast still intends to "comply fully" with the FCC order.
Cable companies are wrestling with how to keep high-speed Internet services operating smoothly as demand soars for features such as streaming video that place heavy demands on networks.
Comcast said last month it plans to slow the top Internet speed for its heaviest users, rather than target specific programs.
Comcast filed the petition for review with the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Washington.
"I'm certainly disappointed" by the challenge, FCC chairman Kevin Martin said. "It was important for the commission to continue to protect consumers' unfettered access to the Internet."
In filings with the FCC, Philadelphia-based Comcast had said that because there was no "potentially applicable law," the agency couldn't issue a ruling about its network practices.
Martin said the commission "definitely" has the authority to act against Comcast.
Free Press and Public Knowledge, the Washington-based public interest groups that filed the complaint upon which the FCC acted, said they had anticipated Comcast's action. 