Comcast alters its TOS, traffic ’shaping’ now acknlowedged
- February 8th, 2008
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Comcast, America’s most beloved ISP, has reacted to an FCC investigation into its alleged traffic shaping by updating its terms of service for the first time in two years. The new TOS says it “uses reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards” to prevent “spam, viruses, security attacks, network congestion, and other risks and degradations of service.” All done, of course, to “deliver the best possible Internet experience to all of its customers.”
Maybe I’m crazy. Probably. But it seems to me that when Comcast purposely interferes with packets I’ve requested that’s tantamount to a “degradation of service.” It’s certainly not an improvement, right?
The thinking on Comcast’s part was that if they codified their policies, users couldn’t drag it into court for the shaping. Regardless, tech-savvy will complain. Hopefully their complaints will trickle down to Joe Public.
Comcast tweaks Terms of Service in wake of throttling uproar [Ars Technica via Slashdot]
This is the statement we made in reaction to the new terms of service:
http://www.savetheinternet.com
Comcast Puts Discrimination in the Fine Print
WASHINGTON — On Jan. 25, Comcast quietly revised its “terms of service” to place new restrictions on how its customers can access the Internet. Comcast is currently under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission for blocking its customers’ legal Internet traffic.
Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press and author of the complaint that spurred the FCC investigation, issued the following statement:
“Comcast’s new restrictions remove any doubt about who the cable and broadband giant is looking out for — and it’s not the customer. In the fine print of its new terms of service, Comcast now admits to curbing users’ access to innovative online services. They claim this represents reasonable network management, but there’s nothing reasonable about it.
“The reality is that Comcast should have invested in a better network with more capacity years ago — and would have if FCC policies required Comcast to actually face competition. But because the cable giant chose short-term profits over long-term innovation, Comcast is faced with a network that can’t handle how consumers want to use the Internet.
“Comcast’s radio silence on these changes speaks volumes. After all, why publicize a limited and throttled service when you are pitching unlimited Internet access to your customers? It’s time for the cable giant to come clean that what it’s selling isn’t the real Internet — it’s a crippled Comcastic knock-off.
“The bottom line is that we can’t trust Comcast — or any other Internet service provider — with the future of the Internet. And we shouldn’t have to.”
Read Marvin Ammori’s blog post: http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/2008/02/06/comcast-new-terms-of-service-recipe-for-discrimination/
Read Comcast’s new terms of service: http://www6.comcast.net/terms/use/