Comcast Backpedals on P2P Traffic Management

Comcast has changed its mind about blocking peer-to-peer (P2P) network traffic, announcing that it will treat all types of Internet content equally.Comcast said that by the end of this year, it will stop discriminating among files based on the type of protocol they use--such as the BitTorrent protocol for sharing large files--and will try to find some other basis for managing network traffic. The new approach will probably relate to how much bandwidth a subscriber uses, regardless of how they're using that bandwidth.

The company also said it would be collaborating with BitTorrent to explore better ways of sending large files over the Internet. "The outcome will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today's emerging Internet trends," according to Tony Werner, Comcast's chief technology officer.

The April 17 FCC hearing at Stanford is still scheduled to take place.New York Times, CNET News