The cable concern said (.pdf) it indeed hit “particular protocols that were generating disproportionate amounts of traffic." The peer-to-peer protocols, Comcast said, include Ares, BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack and Gnutella -- vehicles used to transport copyrighted material without the owners' permission.
On Aug. 1, when the FCC ordered it to abandon its throttling practices, Comcast denied that it was blocking any services including “peer-to-peer services" like BitTorrent or engaged in any blocking of services.
Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said at the time, “We are disappointed in the commission's divided conclusion because we believe that our network management choices were reasonable, wholly consistent with industry practices and that we did not block access to websites or online applications, including peer-to- peer services."
By a 3-2 vote, the FCC concluded that Comcast monitored the content of its customers' internet connections and selectively blocked peer-to-peer connections in violation of network neutrality rules. The selective blocking of file sharing traffic interfered with users' rights to access the internet and to use applications of their choice, the commission said. “Comcast's practices are not minimally intrusive, as the company claims, but rather are invasive and have significant effects," the commission said, demanding an end to the practices by year's end.
Comcast, which filed Friday's report to the FCC to comply with its Aug. 1 order, is appealing the ruling. In Friday's report, Comcast said the throttling began “ widescale deployment" in 2007.
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