Intellectual Property Law

P2P Management Disclosures: Not "If," But "How?"

By Cynthia Brumfield

(Washington, DC) Few of the impressive experts assembled at the Internet Video Policy Symposium held here today could agree on much. But one point of consensus emerged from the day's discussions: any P2P network management practices should be transparent to the consumer. This point of agreement jives with the views of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin who has stated that, at a minimum, broadband network management practices should be disclosed to the public.

The real question is: how should broadband providers disclose to the world their management activities given the hideous complexity of traffic shaping policies? Consumers rarely read their already lengthy and legalistic broadband service terms of use. At the same time, a small but influential group of third-party applications developers (who fear running afoul of network management techniques) as well as public interest advocates want more details on what broadband providers are doing.

"The model used for corporate disclosure to the SEC is what should be use here," Arnie Berman Chief Technology for Cowen & Co. said. Publicly traded companies generally issue brief, relatively understandable announcements to wide audiences but then submit detailed filings to the SEC for those who desire more information.

USC's Simon Wilkie suggested that a simple three-part disclosure policy might go a long way toward satisfying the different constituencies. These three parts would spell out when 1. General traffic management policies are in place (i.e. all traffic is considered equal and treated on a first-in, first-out basis) or 2. Specified applications are treated differently from other types of Internet content or 3. Specified commercial relationships exist between the broadband provider and the application or content provider and are therefore given priority.

Penn Professor and Economist Gerry Faulhaber offered yet another option: follow what the pharmaceutical industry does. Prescription drugs typically offer two levels of detail -- simple warnings and directions on the outside of the package but longer patient inserts that offer far more detail.

Full post as published by IP Democracy on March 19, 2008 (boomark / email).