Two Important Legal Rulings

Just a brief blog today on two very important legal rulings that may affect all of us.

First, the FCC has rules that Internet Service Provider Comcast can no longer prevent users from using BiTorrent for downloading. Until recently when they reversed their policy, Comcast had blocked all access to BiTorrent downloads, which, in some cases, is used for downloading copyrighted materials like music, movies, software and other items. Comcast did not tell its subscribers that it was doing this.

Comcast had said that BitTorrent downloaders were eating up far to much of its bandwidth. The Federal Communications Commission handed Comcast a cease-and-desist order and required the company to disclose to subscribers in the future how it plans to manage traffic. This marks the first time that the Federal government has stepped in to regulate so-called Net Neutrality, which is a nice way of saying that ISP's cannot pick and choose what sites they will let their users see and how much bandwidth certain sites get.

Even though the FCC imposed no penalty on Comcast, they are going to appeal the decision.

The second ruling comes from a California judge who has ruled that Sprint cannot charge a $200 penalty fee for early termination of a cell phone contract. In addition, the judge ruled that the wireless operator should pay back $18.2 million in collected fees to consumers, a decision that could help sway decisions on similar cases throughout the country.

The preliminary decision released earlier this week is a major blow to Sprint and to other phone companies in their battle to defend themselves against angry consumers who say the fees imposed on them when they leave the companies' services are unlawful.

Verizon Wireless, which was also being sued in California, has already settled its case, agreeing to pay $21 million to settle all claims against the company. And after the decision against Sprint, there's a chance that cases against T-Mobile and AT&T could also be settled. Look for the Sprint case to be appealed.

All this comes at a time when the Federal Communications Commission is enduring intense lobbying over how best to handle the fees. Telecommunications companies have asked the FCC to regulate the fees and shield wireless companies from class action lawsuits in state courts, such as the one Sprint just lost.