FCC orders Comcast to modify network management

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Comcast Corp has been ordered to change how it manages its broadband network after U.S. communications regulators concluded some of its tactics unreasonably restrict Internet users who share movies and other material.

In a precedent-setting decision, the five-member Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to uphold a complaint accusing Comcast of violating the FCC's open-Internet principles by improperly hindering peer-to-peer traffic.

"Subscribers should be able to go where they want, when they want, and generally use the Internet in any legal means," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement.

Comcast said it was disappointed by the decision and was considering all its "legal options."

The ruling by the FCC does not include any fines against Comcast. But it requires the company to cease impeding peer-to-peer applications, to tell the FCC how the practice has been used, and to notify customers about other network management practices it adopts in the future.

The complaint against Comcast was filed by consumer groups who said the company had blocked file-sharing services, such as BitTorrent, that distribute TV shows and movies.

The case has become a flash point for a growing debate over a concept known as "network neutrality," which pits open-Internet advocates against some Internet service providers, who say they need to take reasonable steps to manage ever-growing traffic on their networks for the good of all users.

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