Comcast Modifies Terms of Service to Acknowledge Throttling, "Traffic Shaping"

Months after the EFF and AP were able to show that Comcast was throttling P2P, Comcast has quietly updated their Terms of Service (TOS) on Jan. 25 to cover its butt - by explicitly outlining its traffic management policies.

Section III of the TOS is called "Network Management and Limitations on Bandwidth Consumption." In part, it says:

Comcast uses various tools and techniques to manage its network, deliver the Service, and ensure compliance with this Policy and the Subscriber Agreement. These tools and techniques are dynamic, like the network and its usage, and can and do change frequently. For example, these network management activities may include (i) identifying spam and preventing its delivery to customer e-mail accounts, (ii) detecting malicious Internet traffic and preventing the distribution of viruses or other harmful code or content, (iii) temporarily delaying peer-to-peer sessions (or sessions using other applications or protocols) during periods of high network congestion, (iv) limiting the number of peer-to-peer sessions during periods of high network congestion, and (v) using other tools and techniques that Comcast may be required to implement in order to meet its goal of delivering the best possible broadband Internet experience to all of its customers.

They also go on to speak in their typically vague way about bandwidth limits:

The Service is for personal and non-commercial residential use only. Therefore, Comcast reserves the right to suspend or terminate Service accounts where bandwidth consumption is not characteristic of a typical residential user of the Service as determined by the company in its sole discretion.

I'm not sure how they can be so vague about it, with more people working from home and also using streaming video services such as HBO on Broadband and Netflix's Internet Viewing Option.

Since the revelations about Comcast's practices came to light, the FCC has received many complaints about Comcast. Since the FCC's 2005 Internet Policy Statement (.PDF) mentions "reasonable network management" for ISPs, and Comcast's TOS also says "the company uses reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards," it seems the company is trying to assuage the FCC's concerns by mirroring its own document.

That doesn't change the fact that to me, mucking with transfers of any sort violates Net Neutrality and amounts to a degradation of service.