Some people say that Comcast is evil, that it has no moral fortitude. But this isn't true, not in the least. Comcast does have standards, and it's fighting vigorously to defend them. After Monday's testimony before the FCC on their bandwidth "delaying" policies, Comcast was accused of blocking the general public’s attendance by planting its own employees at the hearing and paying them to do so.

On Monday, the FCC grilled Comcast on its bandwidth management practices. After several grueling hours, the FCC appeared to sympathize with the public opinion that Comcast's policy of "delaying" BitTorrent uploading was inconsistent with net neutrality standards. However, the real fallout from Monday's hearing wasn't the FCC's sympathy, their indecision, or the bantering that went back and forth. The real fallout was the news that Comcast encouraged its own employees to stand on line prior to the hearing - in effect filling the forum with its own supporters and blocking other participants.

"Yesterday's FCC hearing in Boston was open to the public and well-attended by many, including Comcast employees, who obviously had an interest in its content, Charlie Douglas of Comcast told Slyck.com. "Comcast informed our local employees about the hearing and invited them to attend. Some employees did attend, along with many members of the general public. For the past week, the Free Press has engaged in a much more extensive campaign to lobby people to attend the hearing on its behalf."

Fair enough. Comcast does have the right to inform its employees of an upcoming FCC hearing that has a direct impact on their company. However, the public awareness website Free Press thinks Comcast took things a bit too far, and accused the cable giant of blocking access to the general public. They accomplished this, Free Press charges, by paying individuals to attend the FCC hearing and cheer Comcast's testimony.

“First, Comcast was caught blocking the Internet", Timothy Karr, campaign director of SavetheInternet.com said in a press release. "Now it has been caught blocking the public from the debate. The only people cheering Comcast are those paid to do so. We didn’t have to pay anyone to attend the hearing. Comcast’s actions raise red flags for most people — with good reason. Clearly, Comcast will resort to just about any underhanded tactic to stack the decks in its favor. And yet Comcast still expects us to trust them with the future of the Internet?”

Date: 2008-02-27 Source: http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1670