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By David Hatch and Andrew Noyes
© National Journal Group, Inc.
Arch rivals Comcast and BitTorrent, which have sparred for months over allegations that the cable giant blocked customers from sharing video and music files over the BitTorrent Web site, have formed an unlikely alliance.
In a joint announcement today, the companies said they are collaborating on ways to ensure that Comcast and other operators of high-speed Internet systems can manage traffic flow on their networks without impeding bandwidth-heavy applications, such as those offered by BitTorrent.
Their dispute helped fuel so-called network neutrality legislation, which House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey, D-Mass., introduced in February to prevent broadband providers from acting as content gatekeepers. "I intend to monitor the ongoing discussions to see if they result in a material change in Comcast's controversial network management techniques," Markey said in a statement today.
While encouraged by the announcement, he noted that Comcast has not signaled that the FCC retains authority to intervene in this area, and warned that the discussions may only have a limited impact.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican, issued a similar reaction. "I am pleased that Comcast has reversed course and agreed that it is not a reasonable network management practice to arbitrarily block certain applications on its network," he said. "I am concerned, though, that Comcast has not made clear when they will stop this discriminatory practice.”
Net neutrality was the focus of a recent FCC field hearing in Boston in which Comcast faced considerable criticism. The agency has scheduled a follow-up session at Stanford University April 17.
Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell told the Tech Policy Summit in Los Angeles today that the arrangement demonstrates that Internet governance "has to be all about reaching private agreement." The development underscores that "everyone has a responsibility when it comes to network congestion," he said.
McDowell expressed optimism that other companies would follow the lead of Comcast and BitTorrent. Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, echoed those views, emphasizing in a statement, "Government interference in the development of this market could easily foreclose or otherwise prevent the emergence of efforts such as this one."
Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps countered that the alliance highlights the fact that FCC oversight is working.
"If it had not been for the FCC's attention to this issue earlier this year, we would not be having the conversation that we are having now," he said in a statement.
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