BitTorrent blocking issues heat up, FCC takes up the cause in a public hearing

The Federal Communications Commission today released the agenda for a meeting Monday on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and service provider traffic-shaping, with speakers from Comcast and Verizon taking up the carrier point of view.

The meeting, to be held at Harvard Law School in Boston, will include panels on policy and technology perspectives, as well as a technology demonstration led by Giles BianRosa, CEO of P2P content provider Vuze.

Tom Tauke, executive vice president of public affairs, policy and communications for Verizon, and David Cohen, executive vice president of Comcast, will participate in the policy panel. Representing the BitTorrent community will be executives from Vuze and BitTorrent. Various public policy experts and scholars will participate as well.

The meeting culminates the agency’s petition for rulemaking (PDF) to establish rules governing broadband provider network management practices, which was launched last fall.

Beginning last week, a variety of companies – including Comcast, AT&T and Verizon -- filed comments on the topic with the FCC. Final response comments are due next week.

Just yesterday, Comcast was hit with its second class-action suit for its traffic-shaping activities, as law firm Gilbert Randolph LLP filed suit, charging false advertising as related to the speed of its Internet service.