NEW YORK - According to published reports, the New York attorney general's office has subpoenaed broadband provider Comcast for information about its interference with subscribers' file-sharing traffic.
Comcast, which said interfering with file-sharing traffic is
necessary to keep all Internet traffic flowing efficiently, told the Associated
Press it is cooperating with the office of New York Attorney General Andrew
Cuomo.
The subpoena came as the Federal Communications Commission held a public
hearing in Massachusetts
on Monday to discuss peer-to-peer traffic throttling done by Comcast and other
Internet service providers. The FCC announced no actions as a result of the
hearing.
Several consumer advocacy groups criticized Comcast for paying
people to fill seats in the room at Harvard
Law School,
where the hearing was held.
"The sad thing about this is that literally hundreds of people who were not
paid to stand in line, or paid by their employer to attend, were prevented from
even entering the building," Craig Aaron of Free Press told Portfolio.com.
Comcast told Portfolio.com that its actions to fill seats at the hearing were
prompted by the actions of groups like Free Press, which encouraged the public
to attend.
