Comcast Sued for Blocking Net Services

A San Francisco-area Comcast customer has sued the company, alleging its interference with file sharing applications constitutes unfair business practices.

San Francisco-area resident John Hart has filed a lawsuit against cable operator Comcast, alleging the company’s so-called traffic management efforts which involve blocking (or, in Comcast’s statements "delaying") peer-to-peer file sharing applications constitutes breach of contact and California’s Consumer Legal Remedies act. Hart is seeking class action status for the lawsuit, an injunction barring Comcast from blocking applications, an order that Comcast disclose its traffic management practices, as well as unspecified damages. Hart’s complaint also target’s Comcast advertising, alleging that any performance benefits he received from upgrading to higher-bandwidth services were mitigated by Comcast’s filtering practices.

Last month, Comcast’s network management practices came under scrutiny following an Associated Press story that claimed proof Comcast was blocking peer-to-peer file sharing traffic via BitTorrent. The story was quickly picked up and more instances of Comcast traffic filtering were uncovered; the company has denied it blocks traffic, but may "delay" packets as part of routine network management.

Earlier this month, consumer interest groups and legal scholars filed a complaint with the FCC over Comcast’s traffic-shaping practices, claiming Comcast’s actions violate the FCC’s network nuetrality policies. The groups have asked the FCC fine Comcast $195,000 for every impacted customer.