Industry-led group to take on network management disputes

In the most notable — and still ongoing — dispute over what network management practices are acceptable, Comcast began interrupting service to consumers who used the bandwidth-hogging application BitTorrent because it may have slowed the connections of other users. That decision came to be seen as a major “net neutrality” breach, infringing on the principle that companies should not single out certain kinds of traffic. 

The squabble spilled over into the policy world after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an enforcement order and a fine against Comcast for its network behavior, which it has since abandoned. The FCC is seeking to make rules against just that kind of practice, but its effort to do so has led to a fractious debate over the bounds of FCC authority. 

Public Knowledge and the Open Internet coalition, which advocate for net neutrality rules, both issued positive statements about the move but argued that the development does not undermine the need for open Internet rules from the FCC. 

The new group will have University of Colorado professor Dale Hatfield, a former FCC chief technologist, as its facilitator.