FCC

SPOTLIGHT: Jeff Pulver's one degree of Obama separation

Doug Mohney — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:13:11 -0500

Currently on the social media bandwagon, purple pundit Jeff Pulver may want to create a new Facebook category of "VON Alumni heading for the White House." While Pulver met Barack Obama at a fundraiser, he's likely to have less access than one-time VON keynoter and Obama adviser/contributor/transition team leader Reed Hundt, frequent VON speaker and FCC Chairman short-list member Blair Levin, and VON speaker/VON Magazine columnist Kevin Werbach.

In a blog note posted on November 14, Werbach said he had been named "co-lead of the FCC agency review team for the Obama-Biden Transition." He previously served as Counsel for New Technology Policy at the Federal Communications Commission from 1994-1998.

Truphone for Blackberry; 911 Enable helps customers meet FCC rules

Pete Wylie — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:35:52 -0400

> Truphone for Blackberry

> 911 Enable Helps VoIP Service Providers Meet New FCC 911 Rules

> Acme Packet Showcases Next-Gen Capabilities in 2008 Global MSF Interop Event

> Data Leaks, Malware Incidents Rise as Web 2.0 Applications enter the Workplace

> Aspect Announces Strategic Partnership With Intech

FCC issues E911 regs, but mobile VoIP a headache

Doug Mohney — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:15:01 -0400

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued regulations this week for VoIP service providers to offer enhanced 911 (E911) call services to all customers, as required under the New And Emerging Technologies (NET911) Improvement Act of 2008.

Under the NET 911 Act, interconnected VoIP providers have the obligation to provide 911 and E911 services in accordance with existing FCC requirements. In addition, each interconnected VoIP provider has the right, like any other carrier, to access capabilities from other carriers to deliver 911/E911 services.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is concerned that there's no specific guidance on what capabilities could be used to help determine the origin of a 911 call; this is a big deal with mobile VoIP customers when they roam outside of their service provider's footprint. Without "last known call" information included in some fashion, there's not enough data to provide to the appropriate public safety officials to send help.

Other FCC Commissions disagree, saying that the FCC order reflects the language and intent of the NET 911 act and that it is too early to lock into last-known call as a required technology before the public safety community and the FCC have had a better look at other options.

Cell phone and VoIP providers are already required to offer 911 and E911 services, but mobile IP phone service adds another complication because a client is not tied into a specific location or cellular system that could be used to locate the caller. The NET 911 Act extends existing 911 service requirements for wireless providers to mobile VoIP providers.

For more:
- Government Computer News coverage of FCC's 911 wireless VoIP rules. Article.

VON Coalition launches freedom2speak.org website

Doug Mohney — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:30:34 -0400

As a part of a larger discussion on the future of Internet communications, the VON Coalition announced the launch of www.freedom2speak.org. The new website is a combination of technology promotion and policy advocacy, as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) votes on new policies and a new President is elected in two weeks.

Freedom2speak.org highlights nearly 300 new voice-enabled tools available on the Internet; columnist Carl Ford outlined the different categories in his column last week.

However, there's more than a cool apps collection offered. A list of VoIP benefits with supporting white papers is presented, headlined with "$110 billion in consumer savings." It includes assertions that a 7 percent increase in broadband adoption could stimulate the creation of 2.4 million jobs, and there's also suggested benefits for the environment and fuel cost savings through telecommunications.

At the end, we have the classic call to action. If you like your VoIP rights, the site asks you to get involved by contacting the FCC to assure a "uniform national framework for Internet communications" and to assert that per-minute fees don't belong on the Internet. The site also provides a link so you can protest Senator Ted Stevens's proposal to block voice calls without associated phone numbers. (Of course, the Senator does have another issue he's busy with at the moment...)

For more:
- Visit www.freedom2speak.org

SPOTLIGHT: Skype's Libertelli likes Levin for FCC Chairman, current policy not so much

Pete Wylie — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:30:39 -0400

Paying a visit to the Fierce offices last week, Skype's senior director of government and regulatory affairs for North America Christopher Libertelli said former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chief of staffer Blair Levin would look good as FCC Chairman while he'd like to see much more openness and net neutrality at carriers.

"Levin would make an excellent FCC chairman," said Libertelli. Currently a managing director at Stifel Nicolaus, Levin often pops up on a short list of potential chairman candidates in the speculation game should Senator Barak Obama win the White House this fall. Levin served as chief of staff to FCC Chairman and Obama contributor/advisor Reed Hundt from December 1993 through October 1997. He is credited with overseeing the implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Reform act, the development of digital TV standards, the first spectrum auctions, and the FCC's Internet initiative.

Turning to openness and net neutrality issues, Libertelli noted that Skype's current initiative via letter to get wireless carriers to freely allow third-party applications onto their networks is part of a broader concern for the company. A recent FCC ruling against Comcast interfering with video peer-to-peer traffic is equally applicable to Skype's offerings in the broader scheme of things.

For more:
- see a copy of the letter Skype sent to the FCC

SPOTLIGHT: McCain gets (an ex-) FCC Chairman

Doug Mohney — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:57:14 -0400

Senator John McCain had trailed Senator Barack Obama in the number of former Federal Communication Commission (FCC) chairs supporting his campaign by a count of two to zero. This week, his re-energized campaign has managed to garner the support of former FCC Chairman and professed Best Buy lover Michael K. Powell.

Powell represented McCain on Monday in an online discussion conducted over Skype entitled "The Next President, the Internet, and the Disconnected City"; he faced off against Obama surrogate Gigi Sohn, President of Public Knowledge. Powell, son of General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, likely gets extra brownie points in McCain circles for his Army service.

After departing the FCC, Powell has kept a low public profile. During his time as chairman, Powell outlined principles for what has become known as Net Neutrality and was a geek favorite for his love of TiVo, VoIP and whatever other cool gizmos he found.

However, McCain has an uphill battle in the telecommunications adviser count. Obama counts a (very embittered) Bill Kinnard and Reed Hundt among his former FCC chair head count; both have contributed cash and advice to the Democratic candidate's campaign.

VoIP and the FCC Comcast Ruling

Doug Mohney — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:38:01 -0400

It's OK to give VoIP traffic priority over other Internet traffic, says the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). But, how do you tell if it is VoIP traffic in the first place?

CircleID parses through the FCC order issued to Comcast, abet with some brightly colored commentary. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin says it would be OK for networks to prioritize VoIP traffic. But the FCC's own press release says network applications should be treated equally, rather than "discriminate" among applications.

A further mystery arises when it comes to figuring out what packets should get priority over others--assuming, of course, that you can do so. The FCC's press release quotes Professor David Reed of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as saying that deep packet inspection (DPI) is not "acceptable behavior." It does beg the question of what you need to do to figure out what's in a packet in the first place in order to give it priority.

For more:
- Read the CircleID piece parsing the FCC Comcast ruling

Related articles:
Comcast, Vonage reach traffic management understanding
FCC targets transparency for network management

Comcast-Vonage Deal Generates Critics

Doug Mohney — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:59:51 -0400

Some days you can't win. Comcast's announcement of an agreement with Vonage to address "reasonable network management" of VoIP is raising eyebrows and criticism.

Wednesday's announcement of the two companies working together has called into question Comcast's network management practices, says Information Week. Free Press, a non-profit organization working to reform the media, is wondering why Vonage needs to cut a deal with Comcast to guarantee that its services are not degraded or blocked. The organization wants to know if Comcast has degraded Vonage services in the past and if they continue to degrade other services from competitors.

Comcast says they've only affected peer-to-peer applications, a stance which has the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not happy and prepared to issue an order for the cable company to stop blocking any applications, disclose its network management practices, and submit a timetable on when and how the cable operator aims to comply with the order.

Needless to say if the order comes to pass, Comcast is likely to go to court on the matter. Or the company may simply stall for time and see what a new administration might bring to Washington.

For more:
- Vonage working with Comcast release
- Information Week opines on Vonage Comcast deal

Related articles:
No Comcast 'do-over,' says Martin
Comcast reports 'Comcastic' quarter

Ex-FCC Chairman: McCain has no Telecom Policy

Doug Mohney — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:45:40 -0400

Barack Obama policy advisor and former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Bill Kennard has no great love for Republican presidential candidate John McCain--especially on telecommunications policy.

Speaking at an event Wednesday sponsored by the Media Access Project, Kennard quickly challenged the idea that McCain's six-year track record serving as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee--responsible for telecommunications policy--was an asset. "It's stunning how little he's accomplished," said Kennard. "He doesn't have one [legislative] achievement [in] the telecom sector... there's nothing. Where's the beef?"

Kennard, FCC Chairman from 1997 through 2001, often had to go before the Commerce Committee to testify on telecommunications and media policy issues and seemed especially embittered when it came to a discussion of the Universal Service Fund and E-Rate program. "[McCain] sought to kill [E-Rate], then turned around and took credit for it ... he opposed it, didn't want it to happen ... he would bully government agencies."

In contrast, Kennard cited Obama's policy paper on telecommunications and technology posted on the candidate's website. McCain had no information and therefore "he just doesn't have" a policy.

McCain representative John Kneuer managed to score some points when the topic turned to media consolidation. Kennard said including the "nascent" Internet as a form of competitive media didn't make sense given its relative new nature but Kneuer pointed out Kennard spent time citing Obama's Internet assets, including 1.5 million online donors, 8,000 affiliate groups on the candidate's website and another million unpaid online volunteers.

Skeptical observers may have also taken issue with Kennard's portrait of Obama being outside of traditional Washington D.C. politics at a forum held in the offices of a downtown law firm. And if there was an "outsider" at the event, it was Kneuer, a former assistant secretary at NTIA. Of the four speakers participating in the event, Kneuer was the only one who had not served at the FCC, unlike Kennard, Skype's Director for Government and Regulatory Affairs Christopher Libertelli, and AT&T's Chief Privacy Officer Dorothy Attwood.

It should also be noted that Kennard departed the event to have lunch with former FCC chief of staff Blair Levin. Now at Stifel Nicolaus, Levin's name pops up on the short list for FCC Chairman in an Obama administration.

Related articles:
Obama's ex-FCC Backers ...
Telecom execs don't have a read on McCain, Obama

The ultimate E911 compliance test: Dial

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

One of the ongoing concerns with VoIP has been the ability of service providers to effectively deliver a 911 call to the appropriate authorities. In an ideal world a VoIP-transported 911 call should go directly to the closest public safety access point (PSAP) and display both the phone number you are using as well as the location of the phone.

Public safety officials in Lee County, Fla. have come up with a quick and easy way for VoIP subscribers to verify their 911 service should work as defined: Call them. Specifically, Lee County Public Safety is asking people with VoIP service to set up an appointment to test their service to see if 911 works as advertised. Users have to call the County 911 program manager on his (non-911) phone line to schedule a time for a trial call, then call 911 at the specified time to verify both caller ID information and address associated with the phone number.

Testing has been going on for a few weeks, but so far only a few test calls a day have taken place. Officials would prefer "thousands" of test calls, since anywhere from 2 percent to 20 percent of VoIP services may either not have 911 functioning correctly or may have the wrong address with the registered phone number. Neither Vonage nor Comcast will tell officials how many customers they have; public safety officials estimate the two providers have 3,000 or more subscribers in Lee County.

For more:
- Lee County News-press Com 911 Testing article

Related articles:
e911 bill provides VoIP liability protection
House gives nod to VoIP E911
FCC clarifies e911 accuracy requirements

SPOTLIGHT: Obama's ex-FCC Backers ...

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:53 -0400

Obama's ex-FCC Backers...
The April 11 Washington Post hard copy version of "Big Donors Among Obama's Grass Roots" lists former Clinton-era Federal Communication Commission Chairmen Reed Hundt and Bill Kennard among presidential candidate Barak Obama's 79 major fundraisers. (One of the reasons why it sometimes still is worth getting fingers dirty with newspaper print).

Hundt was FCC chairman from 1993 to 1997 and most recently spent his time trying to get Frontline Wireless off the ground to bid on the 700 MHz public safety D block of spectrum. FrontLine folded in January, however. Hundt has also been consistently plugging the idea of the government picking up the tab to build out a 100 Mbps to every U.S. household.

Kennard served as Chairman from 1997 to 2001. Today, he is a managing director with the Carlyle Group and a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C. While keeping a somewhat lower profile than Hundt since exiting government service, he has joined with former FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell on the Digital Kids Task Force.

FYI, The Hollywood Reporter already has some names floating around for the next FCC chair.

FCC Chairman says no to Skype, forced open access

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:59:55 -0400

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told CTIA conventioneers this week he'll oppose a Skype petition to open up existing wireless carrier networks to outside devices because the industry already is working toward that goal. "In light of the industry's embrace of this more open approach, I think it's premature for the commission to place any other requirements on these networks," Martin told the audience.

Skype was looking for a "Carterphone" regulation to force mobile operators to connect any device that doesn't harm the network. Martin said he was working to balance the needs of device makers and operators. Skype is currently banned on most networks.

Granted, recent statements from Verizon Wireless that it would open its network to outside devices may sound like movement forward, but the company's caveat "as long as" (device and apps meet their certification process) puts a bit of a damper on any outward exuberance among VoIP providers.

For more on Skype's stumble:
- read FierceWireless' story on the Chairman's remarks Article
- Read the InformationWeek story
- Skype responds to FCC Chairman Martin's keynote remarks
- check out CTIA Live's photos from Martin's keynote

Related articles:
Verizon details open network agenda
Is 'open network' just marketing hype?

Los Angeles wants its cut; imposes 9% VoIP tax

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:59:56 -0400

Maybe they haven't been reading the news--or their mail from Washington, D.C.--otherwise the voters in Los Angeles would know the 9 percent tax they just approved on VoIP calls has a snowball's chance in, well, it doesn't stand much of a shot in court, where it'll invariably end up.

The measure was passed last month and includes a stipulation that drops taxes on all other phone calls from 10 percent to 9 percent. The city told voters the new tax money would go toward police and fire protection.

Problem is, the feds last fall passed a seven-year extension of a moratorium protecting Internet access services from federal, state, and local sales or excise taxes. President Bush signed the measure Nov. 1. Must be a slow connection to Los Angeles.

For more:
- Read the full story from the Heartland Institute

Related articles:
FCC levies VoIP fees on cable operators
FCC eyes putting VoIP into USF pool

VoIP wins exemption from USF in Nebraska

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:59:54 -0400

It looks like there's finally a silver lining to Vonage's recent woes; the U.S. District Court in Lincoln has ruled the troubled company isn't required to pay universal service fees to the Nebraska Public Service Commission. The VoIP provider has maintained that it's exempt from paying the fee because it's an information service, not a telecom. Carriers are charged by states to help subsidize service in poor and rural areas and to schools and community organizations. Telcos want Vonage and other VoIP providers to play by the same rules they're required to abide by, and to pay the same fees.

Vonage won a similar suit against the Public Service Commission in Minnesota. The Nebraska ruling also means other VoIP providers offering service in Nebraska will no longer be required to pay service fees. The NPSC has until April 2 to appeal the ruling.

For more:
- Read the Associated Press story

Related articles:
Top VoIP regulatory trends for 2008 Report
FCC levies service fees on VoIP operators Report

Competition the cure for U.S. broadband woes

Tom Burton — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

U.K. analyst Dean Bubley--the guy who predicts there will be 250 million mobile VoIP phones over the next five years--had an "Aha" moment last week at Lee Dryburgh's eComm2008. One of the speakers asked how many ISPs in Edinburgh (Scotland), to which the answer was, "about 30." The same speaker then asked his U.S. audience the same question of their hometown and the answer came back: one or two!

As Bubley puts it: "Now I understand why Americans get so exercised about open access, net neutrality and so on. I hadn't realized quite how appallingly competition policy had failed in the U.S.--I knew it was bad, but I hadn't really grasped just how bad. The stuff I take for granted in the UK--lots of wholesale ISPs, and quite a few local-loop-unbundled ones, plus cable--just doesn't map onto the reality in the U.S."

"I've realized that I sometimes assume that ordinary, mundane, competition will give deep packet inspection and application-blocking a solidly good kicking. Which is fine, if ordinary, mundane competition actually works," says Bubley

In two paragraphs Bubley destroys the self-congratulatory smugness evident yet again in the FCC's latest puffery on broadband deployment in the U.S. The FCC reports a 55 percent increase in broadband lines in fiscal 2007. Pity that the vast number are 200 kbps lines--OK for email and not much more. Nor that many are on shared cable lines where coverage rises and falls depending on what is on prime time.

And probably more significant is the well-documented reluctance of U.S. providers to roll out voice 2.0 type applications. While the FCC was peddling figures suggesting lots of areas with multiple competitors, the reality for most American homes is an incumbent offering vanilla ADSL and, if lucky a cable operator that provides connectivity which is good as long as the kids stay at school.

But rather than decrying the lack of facilities based competition, the public policy debate has instead been high jacked by the net neutrality crowd--a Utopian socialist view akin to demanding there be no slow lanes on the freeway. Look across the Atlantic and the dynamism and energy of the European IP marketplace can be attributed to one simple fact: effective unbundling of the local loop.

Rather than the FCC running around the Ivy League fraternities holding show trials for Comcast for having the audacity of trying to manage network congestion, maybe the FCC should focus on getting real competition--30 ISPs worth--into the network. Amen. Tom

FCC rethinks broadband

Tom Burton — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:57 -0400

The Federal Communications Commission has finally agreed to a new 768 kbps minimum for broadband, up from the current 200 kbps. The announcement to review the broadband standard--and to more precisely map broadband deployment--came after releasing new broadband deployment figures revealing a sharp jump in broadband usage.

The FCC figures showed at mid-2007 the U.S. had more than 100 million so-called broadband lines, an increase of 35 million broadband lines. Of the 101 million lines, 66 million were for residences. Half of all lines were cable modems underlining how quickly the cable providers have eaten into traditional telco territory.

But in an interview with the International Herald Tribune EU telecommunications commissioner Viviane Reding pointed to figures showing Europe was ahead in broadband league table. According to Reading, eight European countries have greater broadband penetration than the U.S.

Netherlands and Scandinavia enjoyed broadband to nearly 35 percent of population. The U.S. rated 15th with 20 percent of the population serviced by broadband, based on OECD figures. She said half of the EU could match the United States in broadband penetration by 2010, if regulators took a tough stance to pry markets open.

The definition of what broadband is, got a pragmatic response in a survey commissioned by Tellabs of 450 readers of two telco publications, FierceWireless and Telephony. An overwhelming 94 percent of respondents of the Tellab survey said the current U.S. definition of broadband does not deliver a true broadband experience. The vast majority of respondents (84 percent) said a better definition of broadband is a service that can deliver high-quality streaming video.

Some 89 percent thought lack of broadband access hurts individual's educational, productivity and employment potential. Four out of five said America should use some of the current Universal Service Fund to expand rural broadband.

For more:
- Industry professionals dissatisfied with broadband availability and definition Tellabs Survey
- FCC Broadband June 2007 Deployment Report (pdf)
- FCC Broadband Release
- FCC to remap broadband Article

Related articles:
Broadband wireless up 154 percent Article
Zettabyte flood predicted for 2015 Article

FBI VoIP docs leaked (again!)

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:59:57 -0400

WikiLeaks has published the FBI's "Electronic Surveillance Needs for
Carrier-Grade Voice over Packet (CGVoP) Service." The document leak coincides with the debate over wiretapping and telco immunity now underway in the Congress and elsewhere. The House held its first secret meeting in 20 years on Friday and passed the FISA wiretapping bill, but toughened up the legal requirements and pulled out the telco immunity provisions. Under the House amendments, carriers will have to argue their case before a Federal judge.

The document is marked for official use only and is 88 pages long. But before anyone gets too excited about WikiLeaks leaking security sensitive documents, the same document has been sitting on public web sites for three years. The document itself is nothing controversial other than it details--in painstaking detail--just how many points of technical surveillance are needed to monitor a VoIP call.

The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) originally excluded the monitoring of computer-based communications but after being petitioned by the FBI the Federal Communications Commission ruled in 2005 that broadband-service providers and interconnected VoIP providers be covered by CALEA. Significantly instant messaging, web boards and site visits are not covered.

In recent times the German police have complained about the difficulty of tapping Skype calls because of the tight encryption used by Skype.

For more:
- WikiLeaks FBI VoIP surveillance document
- 2005 leak of FBI document
- House passes FISA bill Article

Related articles:
FierceTelecom has been covering the telco immunity debate in full detail
Skype baffles German Police Article

+883 world numbers on offer

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:59:54 -0400

Belgium VoIP backbone provider Voxbone is to offer +883 world numbers to enable VoIP users to have a global non-geographic number for all inward calls. The initiative is called iNum and the idea according to CEO Rod Ullens is to provide a virtual world number reachable from anywhere. "We'd like this number range to be number range to be reachable for free from all the VoIP communities and a very cheap call from the PSTN," says Ullens. "We want to first focus on the VoIP communities, and then later on PSTN."

Because it is only a number for inward calling Ullens says issues such as emergency services access will not be affected. Getting carriers to establish a sensible pricing regime for these numbers is going to be the challenge as the telcos have little incentive to price these numbers below what they already charge for calls to their domestic numbers. As others have observed carriers typically still charge a premium to call non geo numbers. But with European regulators pushing for VoIP portability across the continent the trend to universal numbers is going to strengthen.

For more:
- New Numbers for a new world Event
- iNum initiative

Related articles:
VoIP numbers to be used across Europe Article
FCC demands portability Article

FCC targets transparency for network management

Tom Burton — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:59:54 -0400

The FCC's Kevin Martin has given his strongest indication the commission will establish guidelines for consumer disclosure as its remedy for providers who actively managed their networks. In so doing he seems to have rejected calls by the net neutrality lobby to bar ISPs from intervening in their networks.

Speaking to a Stanford law seminar Martin said: "One of the most important and one of the most troubling aspects of the complaints in front of us is that at first the network operator (Comcast) denied that they were engaged in this kind of a practice publicly. The challenge is to find a balance to where the Commission should act," said Martin. "It shouldn't be inherently partisan," he added in reference to what he called extremist views in both the Republican (no regulation) and Democratic (excessive regulation) camps.

Martin said the Comcast case was "an opportunity to demonstrate we will enforce (reasonable access) principles and allow innovation to occur. I have testified that I'm ready, willing and able to act, and I think that's what we're doing."

He said in 2005, the FCC endorsed four basic rights of Internet end users: end users have the right to access content; run applications and services; connect devices to the network; and to expect competition among network, application, service and content providers.

"The FCC hasn't said whether (ISPs) can have a fast lane versus a slow lane," said Martin. "The Commission hasn't spoken to that. To the extent you are asserting network management as a defense against the four principles, all the applications have to be treated the same, or it's truly not about network management but about arbitrary blocking."

Comcast has strongly defended its right to manage its network to avoid congestion so as to ensure VoIP and other advanced IP services are not impaired by P2P networks. In some European countries it has been estimated five per cent of users are using Bit Torrent applications to consume 80 percent of the bandwidth.

For more:
FCC looking for balance in Comcast network hearing Article
Martin troubled by Comcast Article

Related articles:
Comcast defends network management Article
NBC to use P2P to deliver video Report
EU invests $22 billion into P2P Article

No Comcast 'do-over,' says Martin

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:59:55 -0500

There will be no "do-over" of the infamous Harvard network-throttling meeting during his trip to Palo Alto to speak at a Stanford law school conference, FCC Kevin Martin has told reporters. Nor was Martin proposing to investigate Comcast's hiring of seat warmers ahead of the Harvard meeting. "It's usually more interesting for people to attend on their own without being paid to do so, but we're not investigating anything," Martin said.

Comcast admitted to hiring people to take up seats at last week's Harvard hearing because it feared the audience was going to be stacked with Comcast protesters. Some of the seats were then filled by local Comcast employees. Some of the remaining seat warmers were then caught sleeping at the standing-room-only hearing.

Martin said the FCC learned from the hearing and remained open to another hearing. The hearing is considering a complaint from P2P operator Vuze that Comcast blocked their traffic. Comcast has admitted blocking P2P traffic to avoid congestion. The hearing is considered critical to the net neutrality issue and the right of service providers to manage their networks.

The FCC is expected to push for greater transparency by providers but not ban throttling for bona fide network management.

For more:
- No Stanford hearing, says Martin Article

Related articles:
Trial of the Internet Article
Comcast hires seat warmers Article