In October of 2007, the combined research of the Associated Press and other news outlets announced that the US ISP Comcast was engaging in unscrupulous traffic management of the web. The EFF, internet users, and other civil liberty groups were furious over the revelation. While the United States has no official net neutrality legislation, Comcast’s practice was generally regarded as a de facto horror. The proceedings that were spun from these findings have breathed new life into net neutrality with the bi-partisan signing of a new enforcement order.
The new order will legally oblige Comcast to cease and desist in further traffic manipulation and force them to disclose the methods they used to manipulate internet traffic. While this is not a law, it sets a relieving precedent regarding traffic management in the days to come.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin likened the manipulation of web traffic to the manipulation of traditional mail.
“Would you be OK with the post office opening your mail, deciding they didn’t want to bother delivering it, and hiding that fact by sending it back to you stamped ‘address unknown – return to sender?’” he said.
“Or if they opened letters mailed to you, decided that because the mail truck is full sometimes, letters to you could wait, and then hid both that they read your letters and delayed them?” he continued.
This decision sends a clear warning to other U.S. ISPs considering illegitimate manipulation of American — and to a lesser extent, global — web traffic. Hands off.
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