Complain about a product or service

Comcast Sued Over Internet Blocking

Lawsuit alleges deceptive marketing and misleading of customers

by Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

November 15, 2007 

The suit alleges Comcast misled customers by promising "unfettered access to all the Internet has to offer," then secretly preventing customers from using file-sharing services to upload video and audio content.

Jon Hart, the plaintiff in the suit, filed his claim after news reports about Comcast's blocking subscribers from using BitTorrent to upload files for sharing across the Web.

Associated Press reporter Peter Svensson said he conducted tests and noted that large file transfers would trigger messages blocking large uploads that appeared to be from one of the users involved in the file transfer, but were actually from Comcast itself.

The lawsuit claim, filed by the Lexington Law Group on behalf of Hart, states that Comcast has "materially and fundamentally breached the duty of good faith and fair dealing" owed to its customers by blocking file-sharing applications without notifying customers.

Comcast has repeatedly stated that it does not block access to P2P applications, even posting a statement on its Web site reiterating that claim. But observers have noted that blocking access to applications is not the issue -- rather, that the regular usage of the application is being interfered with.

Comcast has also been castigated for its practice of canceling customer accounts for excessive bandwith usage, often with no explanation given.

The company refuses to disclose its caps on usable bandwith, apparently for fear of giving advantages to competitors who don't use caps or who may disclose them upfront.

Net Neutrality At Stake

The discovery of Comcast's traffic blocking reignited debate over "net neutrality," the concept that Internet users should be able to access all content on the Web equally, and that providers should not block access to content or favor their own content over others' offerings.

Members of the SaveTheInternet.com coalition filed a complaint with the FCC on November 1, accusing Comcast of violating several of the FCC's policy principles for Internet usage, including accessing all content lawfully and legally, and using their choice of applications to do so.

"Comcast is secretly degrading peer-to-peer protocols, threatening to undermine the Internet’s open and interconnected character, discourage broadband use, and crippling the innovation the Internet has made possible," the coalition groups said in the complaint.

The generally industry-friendly FCC has been slow to support new regulations for net neutrality, preferring to investigate complaints and enforce rules after the fact.

FCC chair Kevin Martin has made a legislative priority of investigating cable business practices and applying new regulatory pressure on the cable industry during his tenure, while largely granting the every wish of telecom companies such as Verizon and AT&T, which are now competing with Comcast and other cable companies in the high-speed Internet and video fields.

The telecom-funded lobby group Hands Off The Internet recently announced its support for the complaint against Comcast, a move industry insiders largely considered an attempt to gain good press from net neutrality supporters at Comcast's expense.

As Media Access Project's Harold Feld pointed out, each side has claimed its network is better than its competitors, and "If Comcast can claim to have a network as good as the telco networks without actually spending the money to make that true, then the telcos just dropped a couple of billion in investment for no good reason."

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |