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Two views of "network management" - July 28, 2008

Interesting contrast in recent U.S. and U.K. approaches to "network management" by ISPs. Last week, the six largest ISPs in England signed a memorandum of understanding with the British Phonographic Industry, the Motion Picture Assn. and several government offices to mutually develop "codes of practice" for policing the illegal sharing of copyrighted works over peer-to-peer networks. One of the issues to be addressed is how to deal with repeat offenders, who continue their allegedly infringing activity after being sent multiple warning notices. Among the remedies being considered are the use of traffic management technology to slow their Internet service and blocking their access to particular applications.

Word of the U.K. deal came at nearly the same moment that word leaked in the U.S. of the FCC's decision to censure Comcast for using traffic-management technology to slow subscribers' Internet service and inhibiting their access to particular applications.

The two cases aren't exactly parallel, of course. Comcast wasn't throttling BitTorrent traffic out of concern for the interests of copyright owners. It was concerned about the burden BitTorrent traffic puts on its network--legal or otherwise. For their part, various FCC commissioners have made it clear that the agency's network-neutrality principles--the ones Comcast will be sanctioned for violating--apply only to lawful content. The use of filtering technology to keep illegal content off the network would still likely be permitted.

But the news out of the U.K. is another indication that European regulators are well out in front of their U.S. counterparts when it comes to bringing the Internet under some kind of clear legal and regulatory regime.

Yes, the British memorandum of understanding is "voluntary," but only in the sense that the government held a gun to everybody's head and said, "why don't you fellas all sit down, voluntary like, and talk about this thing." The French government has proposed creating the High Authority for the Dissemination of Works and Protection of Rights on the Internet both to regulate licensed content services and police illegal file-sharing. And thanks to its rotating turn serving as president of the European Union, France is pushing for EU-wide adoption of a "three-strikes" rule against illegal downloads. 

Those are just a few of the regulatory initiatives or proposals with respect to the Internet currently floating around European capitals. Kind of makes the FCC seem like pikers.
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