WASHINGTON - January 14 -Today, the Federal Communications Commission launched an investigation in response to the petition and complaint filed by members of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition calling for an immediate end to the blocking of legal peer-to-peer file-sharing services by Comcast and other Internet service providers.

Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, issued the following statement:

“Comcast blocking BitTorrent is the canary in the coal mine for corporations that seek to take over the Internet. The FCC should immediately stop Comcast from blocking Internet traffic and then proceed with this important investigation and public comment process. It’s high time to involve the American public in this matter. In the past two years, millions of Americans have asked Congress and the FCC to protect Net Neutrality.

“Blocking more innovative competitors doesn’t constitute reasonable network management. The FCC needs to make it clear to these companies that blocking consumer access to the Internet will not be tolerated. The longer the FCC waits, the more these companies will continue to invest in blocking technologies similar to those used in China to censor the Internet. Chairman Kevin Martin should nip this in the bud.”

Read the FCC’s announcement: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-91A1.pdf

Learn more about the Comcast complaint: http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=297

###