P2P in play

February saw BitTorrent, traffic shaping and Net neutrality come to the fore:

• AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Vuze and others made filings in an FCC rule-making proceeding initiated by Comcast’s alleged blocking of BitTorrent traffic. At issue: Are carriers shaping network traffic or discriminating against bit-heavy protocols?
• Developers are hard at work extending the P2P protocol to defeat efforts to delay BitTorrent traffic.
• U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a new Net neutrality bill, focusing on principles of conduct rather than enforcement or penalty provisions.

What it means: Inspecting packets for network management — and eventually content and ad-targeting — is growing in importance, though service providers have some choppy political waters to navigate. That’s especially true as “open networks” becomes an increasingly prevalent user rallying cry — and telco marketing slogan.