Comcast: net neutrality should be less filling, taste great

The star Internet service provider in the drama over the Federal Communications Commission's proposed Open Internet rules filed comments with the agency on that subject this week. Comcast comes to the task after having convinced a Federal court to overturn the FCC's order sanctioning it for P2P throttling. You might think, then, that the cable giant's comments would be full of triumphant swagger. Quite the contrary, they're diplomatic and make recommendations based on what Comcast sees as the consensus among filers in this proceeding.

That broad agreement, the company thinks, boils down to two major points—the agency should come up with Open Internet policies for everybody, and they should be as unobtrusive as possible. "A diverse group of commenters [have] noted that the rules cannot focus too narrowly on Internet service providers as the only potential 'gatekeepers'," Comcast observes, "but should account for the interdependent nature of the Internet ecosystem." And: "the Commission should not adopt an absolute ban on 'discrimination' . . . A more flexible and realistic standard, such as one that focuses on 'unreasonable and anticompetitive' discrimination, would give the Commission sufficient authority to monitor practices that create a meaningful risk to innovation and the openness on the Internet."