Comcast P2P Critic Launches Class-Action Bid

Comcast faces a federal class-action lawsuit, led by an outspoken critic of the operator's peer-to-peer management practices, alleging the company cheated customers by surreptitiously "blocking" Internet file transfers. The lead plaintiff in the suit, Oregon resident Robb Topolski, has regularly spoken out against Comcast's efforts to curtail P2P traffic, including at a Federal Communications Commission hearing on providers' bandwidth-management practices. The suit asserts Comcast violated unfair trade practices and consumer-protection laws by misrepresenting its broadband service as "unfettered" and that it provides "the fastest Internet connection."