Internet Expert Warns FCC that FreePress' Comcast Petition has Ulterior Motives

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The petitioners are asking the FCC to abandon reason and declare illegal necessary and

McLean, Va. (PRWEB) November 5, 2007

Today, Scott Cleland, chairman of NetCompetition.org, warned the Federal Communications Commission and the public not to be deceived by the petition filed by FreePress that asks the FCC to declare illegal Comcast's necessary network management of viral peer-to-peer (p2p) traffic. The real political agenda behind this deceptive petition is to achieve through the back door of the FCC what net neutrality proponents could not achieve through the front door of Congress -- reversal of broadband de-regulation and de facto imposition of common carrier regulation of the Internet, Cleland said.

"The petitioners are asking the FCC to abandon reason and declare illegal necessary and "reasonable" network traffic management practices to protect consumers," Cleland said. "Claiming that networks should not be able to manage traffic to protect consumers, is as nonsensical as claiming that stoplights, yield signs, and weight limits on bridges shouldn't be used to protect drivers from danger or traffic jams."

Recently the head of the Patent and Trademark Office provided a report to Congress that documented that p2p traffic is still used for rampant copyright theft and that p2p networks were also a serious data security threat to Americans' personal, corporate and government information.

"Bottom line, if network owners cannot manage network traffic to ensure the expected quality of service and consumer protection, they cease to have a business," concluded Cleland.

NETCompetition.org is an e-forum to debate the merits of net neutrality. It is funded by broadband telecom, cable and wireless companies who believe in free and open Internet competition, not net regulation. See http://www.netcompetition.org.

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