Feds Ponder How To Police Internet Traffic

(AP) Federal communications regulators on Thursday will examine the ways Internet service providers have been blocking and slowing Web traffic for some of their customers.

Conspicuously absent from the list of panelists are any major Internet service companies, including Comcast Corp., which has been under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission for delaying file-sharing among some of the company's customers as a way to better manage network traffic. Consumer groups had complained that the company was secretly blocking some connections between file-sharing computers.

Legal scholars, executives from smaller technology companies, and representatives from consumer and other interest groups will testify at the hearing at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

An FCC spokesman said other major Internet providers, such as Time Warner Cable Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., were invited to speak but declined. However, some of the panelists were recommended by the companies, he added.

Brett Glass, chief executive for Lariat.net, a local Internet service provider based in Laramie, Wyo., is the only Internet provider executive scheduled to speak.

Comcast had an executive speak at the FCC's first hearing on network management issues in late February. It said that hearing covered issues pertinent to the company and the second hearing should be broader than any individual company's issues.

Philadelphia-based Comcast said last month it would treat all Internet traffic equally, reversing its previous stance. And, on Tuesday, it said it will develop a "best practices" for Internet providers to deal with file-sharing traffic, which can place substantial loads on the networks of cable companies. One file-sharing company, Pando Networks Inc., said it will support Comcast's initiative.

"At this point, the most productive course is to continue our business to business discussions and to pursue the process that was outlined in our announcement with Pando," Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said in a statement.

She said the FCC and others will be briefed as the company makes progress.

At the second hearing, the FCC will examine what constitutes legitimate network management practices and how providers can block illegal content while ensuring that consumers can download legal files.

The agency will also review whether companies need to better disclose certain terms of their Internet service to customers, such as limits of files that can be shared.

Among those scheduled to speak are: Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig; Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America; George Ou, an independent consultant and former network engineer; Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press; and Blake Krikorian, CEO of consumer electronics company Sling Media Inc., a subsidiary of EchoStar Corp.