Lessig lays into FCC

Lawrence Lessig, Stanford law professor and net neutrality advocate, gave a rousing speech at the FCC’s open forum in Palo Alto Thursday. In front of the full five-member FCC panel, Lessig offered his criticism of the FCC’s failure to act on net neutrality.

“We are facing these problems because of a failure of FCC policy,” Lessig said. “The FCC failed to make it clear to the network owners that if they are building the internet they need to build it neutrally.”

In addition to Lessig’s presentation, the event was also notable for Comcast’s absence. After trying to pack the hall at the last FCC public hearing to keep out neutrality advocates, the company decided not to attend this time.

Engineer Robb Topolski took Comcast to task for their secret attempt to block BitTorrent last year. He was the first to uncover Comcast’s actions and he presented the FCC with his findings.

“Consumers were harmed when (Comcast) decided it would do something secretive and non-standard on the Internet,” Topolski said according to CNET. “The situation continues today. It has not stopped, despite all the wonderful agreements between BitTorrent and Comcast. I’m a ham radio operator. And Comcast is jamming authorized communication (on the Internet). I ask that before you leave today you signal your intent to stop these interferences.”

TagsComcast, FCC, Lawrence Lessig