Comcast and Content Filtering

Just this morning, I was contacted by two people wanting my signature on a petition to force the FCC to severely punish Comcast for blocking and slowing traffic through their ‘pipes’.

While I added myself to the petitions, I wonder what will come of the whole thing, as it might turn out to be an exercise in frustration for the public at large, unless we get a grip on our legislators.

Yes, I said legislators. Over at Ars Technica, an article about the amount of buzz (and worry) concerning content filtering is prominently on the front page. It talks about the possibility of many ISPs starting filtering projects, combined with the already planned campus filtering projects all over this land.  The lobbies of the big software companies must be very powerful, as everyone on both sides is taking this very seriously. The House is trying to tie mandatory filtering to the funding of colleges and universities by the government. This is pretty wild stuff. No doubt that most of the fuel was provided by the RIAA and MPAA, but the problem is that the fallout will touch all of us.

As anyone who has seen filtering in action knows, it is not a totally clean process. Some things get grunged, some things get caught by the filter that should have been let through, and the biggest problem - filters always slow things down!

Do we really need a slower internet? If this movement gets any traction, it will slow everything, cost truckloads of money to implement, and you know who will end up footing the bill. Also, the problem with Comcast, bit torrent filtering and slowing, will come up as that company just getting on the bandwagon before the first note of the song. Not true, but you know how lawyers can spin a tale.

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[tags] Comcast, bit torrent, content filtering, AT&T, FCC [/tags]