The First Complaint Of Net Neutrality Violation Is In, And It’s Against Time Warner Cable


Net neutrality only went into effect last Friday, but the first formal complaint against an ISP for breaking the rule is already on its way. The target? Time Warner Cable.

The complaint comes from a video streaming service in San Diego, the Washington Post reports.

Commercial Network Services (CNS) operates a number of webcams on the west coast. They live-stream events like the Fourth of July fireworks, and have a large following who like to watch the comings and goings of U.S. Navy vessels in San Diego. And according to CNS, Time Warner Cable is asking them to pay up or else viewers will get degraded service.

CNS chief executive Barry Bahrami told the WaPo, “This is not traffic we’re pushing to Time Warner; this is traffic that their paying Internet access subscribers are asking for from us.” He said that TWC’s actions are a “blatant violation” of the Open Internet Rule and that his company will be formally filing a complaint “in the next couple days, tops.”

TWC says it’s a peering dispute — basically, the same problem Netflix has run into. CNS doesn’t meet the criteria for a settlement-free peering deal (one in which no cash changes hands), they say.

In a statement to the Post, Time Warner Cable representatives said, “TWC’s interconnection practices are not only ‘just and reasonable’ as required by the FCC, but consistent with the practices of all major ISPs and well-established industry standards.”

The company added, “We are confident that the FCC will reject any complaint that is premised on the notion that every edge provider around the globe is entitled to enter into a settlement-free peering arrangement.”

Time Warner Cable will be the first to get hit with a net neutrality complaint [Washington Post]

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