P2P File Sharing and ISP

"As foreshadowed at the Consumer Electronics Show last week, federal regulators this week took the first formal step into investigating complaints about how Internet service providers, such as Comcast, manage peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic on their networks "

Internet users in France who frequently download music or films illegally risk losing Web access under a new antipiracy system unveiled Friday.

A steady stream of press releases from the MPAA and the RIAA about unauthorized peer-to-peer downloading suggests that college students are digital pirates and campus network officials are engaged in benign neglect. Yet ample evidence confirms that unauthorized P2P downloading is primarily a consumer market problem, not especially tied to college students on campus networks. Moreover, the media companies with strong ties to consumer broadband providers are themselves at least indirectly promoting unauthorized P2P activity. This is not new: Media companies have a long history of seeking remedy (and revenue) from Congressional action, rather than pursuing marketplace solutions.

This presentation will focus on how Big Music and Big Hollywood have targeted colleges and universities via press releases and Congressional lobbying initiatives while largely ignoring the much larger amount of unauthorized P2P file sharing taking place on commercial networks.

"Comcast's traffic-filtering efforts are the subject of FCC complaints and a lawsuit. At issue: ISPs right to control the flow of data over their networks"

"According to an Oct. 19 article by the Associated Press, Comcast has been actively degrading and
blocking BitTorrent traffic, amounting to "the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S.
Internet service provider." This is the latest and most clear cut incident illustrating the need for "network
neutrality" principles for the Internet. This factsheet provides a technological backgrounder on what
Comcast is blocking and how the company does it."

Comcast has been blocking the sharing of certain files on their users network as a means of managing its network to keep file-sharing traffic from swallowing too much bandwidth and affecting the Internet speeds of other subscribers.

"A leading lawmaker will propose federal legislation requiring telcos and cable operators to send Internet subscribers a warning letter if they access pirated content. "

What's past is prologue. As we look ahead to the policy questions facing the Internet today and tomorrow, it's useful to recall what we've seen over the past 12 months, and that's what we'll do during this session.