Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) Chairman, Kevin Martin, said on Thursday that he would recommend that Comcast be punished for violating agency rules that promised open Internet access to customers.

 

The move originated from a complaint against Comcast (News - Alert), a leading Internet service provider in U.S., that it had blocked Internet traffic among users of a certain type of file-sharing software that allows them to exchange a large volume of data across the Internet.

 

The complaint was filed by Free Press and Public Knowledge (News - Alert), a nonprofit group that works for citizens’ rights in the emerging digital culture. Free Press and Public Knowledge advocates that Internet content should be treated equally.

 

Martin accuses Comcast for "arbitrarily" blocking Internet access regardless of the state of the Internet traffic and failing to disclose consumers that it was doing so.

 

Martin will circulate an order among his fellow commissioners on Friday and recommend enforcement action against Comcast. The voting on the recommendation is scheduled for August 1.

 

In response to Martin’s order, Comcast will have to stop blocking Internet content, provide details to commission on the manner and degree in which the practice has been used, and announce its customers about its plans of providing the service in future.

 

"The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers access to the Internet," said Martin to reporters of The Associated Press late Thursday. "We found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our principles."

 

Comcast denied that it blocked Internet content to its users saying that the "carefully limited measures that Comcast takes to manage traffic on its broadband network are a reasonable part of the company's strategy to ensure all customers receive quality service.”

 

Comcast is getting ready to fight a legal battle saying that the policy adapted by FCC in September 2005, to ensure that broadband networks are "widely deployed, open, affordable and accessible to all consumers” is not enforceable.

 

Comcast further accused FCC saying that the statement given in the policy does not clarify the level of network management acceptable to the commission.

 

If Martin receives majority for his recommendation, the bill will be passed in the Senate. It would then become the first test of FCC’s network neutrality principles. The five-member commission also includes two Democrats who had proposed the network neutrality concept. Therefore, it is almost sure that Martin will get their votes and gain majority with three votes.

 

Internet service providers across the country unanimously oppose such a regulation saying that it would thwart their freedom to manage the networks. 

Ben Scott (News - Alert), federal policy chief for Free Press, said that FCC's action would have great implications in the future. "This is going to be a bellwether," Scott said.

Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani’s articles, please visit her columnist page.