High-speed Internet and digital cable provider Comcast on Monday finally broke its silence over the issue of net neutrality proposals of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), saying that new rules or guidelines regarding its implementation should be subjected to public rulemaking proceeding.
In his blog, Comcast executive vice president David Cohen said that it is both “fair and appropriate” for the concerned parties that the FFC, led by its chairman Julius Genachowski, to send out notice and conduct an open, public hearing over the new guidelines that will be made for the said issue.
Cohen said that the issue of net neutrality will not only affect carriers, Internet Service Providers, and other stakeholders, but also the general public, who does not have a clue on what the new principles are.
Earlier, Genachowski said that the Internet has fast become the future of job creation, investment, and opportunity as more and more entrepreneurs launch their small and medium businesses in the World Wide Web.
But he said that it is also important for the government to ensure the safety of the online public and safeguard the open and free Internet.
The FCC classified the two new principles as “transparent” and “nondiscriminatory”.
With this guidelines set, Comcast, which is one of the most powerful broadband Internet providers in the US, can not have a bias on what websites should have the faster loading speed.
The FCC earlier expressed fear the Comcast and other broadband providers would pay more attention on certain websites or ISPs that generate more hits and control what websites they want to block.
It will be recalled that the commission has earlier cited Comcast for blocking BitTorrent file-sharing websites, which is a direct violation of the new guidelines.
FCC also pointed that Comcast did not even tell their clients about the blocking of BitTorrent sites. “We want these consumers what the practices of their providers are,” Genachowski said.
But Cohen defended their actions, saying that the closed down peer-to-peer file-sharing website has violated certain policies of the company. “Our action is a reasonable form of network management,” he added.