The Truth about FinallyFast.com

5/10/10

BitTorrent CEO weighs in on net neutrality

Internet service providers must regulate their networks on their own in response to consumer demands, according to BitTorrent chief executive officer Eric Klinker. On April 6, the United States Supreme Court ruled that ISPs have the right to block websites from their networks as they please.

Klinker's comments represent his acceptance that net neutrality, a policy adopted by each of the last two FCC chairmen and most internet companies, is a thing of his past.

“There is no ambiguity. There is not going to be, at least in the near term, a strong regulator for broadband,” Klinker said at the eComm conference in Burlingame, California, according to PC World. “The public is our regulator.”

For years, net neutrality was the accepted policy of communications regulators in the U.S. However, the Supreme Court found that because there was no law or language in the Constitution supporting net neutrality, it had to rule against it.

Comcast blocked BitTorrent from its server in 2007 after it found the peer-to-peer file sharing network to occupy too much bandwidth and slow down its service.

Related Articles

[ See all News » ]