FCC chairman wants halt to Comcast file-share limits

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin said Friday that he wanted to stop Comcast Corp. from hampering subscribers’ ability to share big files such as movies online.

Comcast, the biggest U.S. cable operator, violated the FCC’s so-called network neutrality principles by interfering with high-speed Internet customers’ use of file-sharing networks such as BitTorrent, Martin said at a news conference.

Martin said he had urged the five-member commission to force the company to stop the delays, without imposing any fines. The FCC is scheduled to vote on Martin’s proposal at its Aug. 1 meeting.

The 3-year-old neutrality guidelines, which the FCC hasn’t formally adopted, say broadband providers should give subscribers access to any legal content or service they choose. The guidelines do allow carriers to engage in “reasonable network management.”

Martin said the company used “too blunt an instrument” in managing its network. “You can’t limit consumers that way,” he said.

Comcast doesn’t block any Internet content, application or service, spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said. The company does take “reasonable” and “carefully limited” steps to manage traffic on its broadband network, she said.

“The commission has never before provided any guidance on what it means by ‘reasonable network management,’ ” Fitzmaurice said.