Vuze Petitions Federal Communications Commisstion to Restrict Internet Traffic Throttling by ISPs
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Washington, D.C. – Vuze, a rapidly growing open entertainment platform for professionally produced content, with an established audience of more than 12 million users, has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt regulations preventing arbitrary interference by broadband network operators with peer-to-peer (P2P) network traffic carried over their networks. By initiating a proceeding specifically focused on this issue, Vuze sees an opportunity to forge a long-term workable solution that is fair to all interested parties, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs), content providers, Internet technology companies, advertisers, and most importantly, consumers.
Vuze’s “Petition for Rulemaking” urges the FCC to adopt regulations limiting Internet traffic throttling, a practice by which ISPs block or slow the speed at which a wide variety of Internet content, including video files, can be uploaded and downloaded by consumers and businesses alike. Vuze believes a public discussion of the throttling issue is needed. Its Petition will trigger such a discussion in a federal forum and lead to FCC
rules, which are needed to provide clarity to companies trying to reach broadband consumers using innovative technologies.
Several ISPs have already admitted to throttling P2P Internet traffic. Such throttling is often accomplished with a “man-in-the-middle” technique used by hackers, whereby false computer messages cause Internet connections to shut down. These tactics have forced content providers and distributors to engage in a series of countermeasures – essentially playing a high-tech game of “cat-and-mouse” with ISPs — to keep their traffic flowing freely.
At issue is whether unrestricted “throttling,” often characterized by ISPs as “network management” or “traffic shaping”, which materially interferes with the consumer Internet experience, should be allowed. If these tactics continue unchecked, the openness and fairness of the public Internet could be called into question.
“Now is the time to embrace the sea changes in entertainment consumption that are occurring. The rapid convergence of the entertainment and Internet industries has enabled the delivery of high-quality video, and these throttling tactics represent growing pains as ISPs resist inevitable change,” said Gilles BianRosa, CEO of Vuze. “We hope our Petition will trigger a public discussion, but we also need the FCC to act. The industry needs transparency into what ISPs are doing and an environment that fosters innovation in online entertainment.”
Continued BianRosa, “Such an approach will benefit ISPs. Rather than resisting changes in Internet usage with counterproductive and arbitrary traffic throttling, we need to work together with the FCC to create a solution that ISPs, technology providers, consumers, content providers, and advertisers can all support.”
About Vuze
Vuze is the world's most popular and fastest-growing platform for professionally produced video content in high-resolution and HD. Vuze has amassed an installed base of more than 12 million unique client downloads in its first 10 months, an additional 2.2 million users who have downloaded the Vuze client in October 2007 alone, and more than 100 content partners to date. Vuze attracts and features high quality content from a growing array of global television networks, premier production studios and thousands of maverick content creators. Vuze, Inc., formerly known as Azureus, Inc., is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Paris.