There were quite a number of stories that inaccurately reported on the Comcast versus Level 3 peering dispute. Those stories inaccurately reported that Comcast was trying to charge an additional toll on the entire Internet (video in particular). The mistakes in the stories were understandable because so many analysts go it wrong but those stories do need to be updated and corrected.

In my video on the peering dispute between Level 3 Communications and Comcast, I made a number of key assertions that were deduced from FCC testimony and PR statements from both companies. Now Comcast has come out to add confirmation to my assertions.

Virtual Takings: The Coming Fifth Amendment Challenge to Net Neutrality Regulation, by Daniel Lyons of BC Law School (available at SSRN and scheduled for the Notre Dame Law Review): [A]rgues that under the Supreme Court’s Takings Clause jurisprudence, the Commission’s proposed net neutrality rules effect a permanent physical occupation of private broadband networks and therefore [...]

Bloomberg ponders the question of “will Netflix kill the Internet”, but I think it has a misguided view of the effect of Netflix on the Internet. The evidence shows that Netflix is actually *growing* the Content Delivery Network (CDN) and broadband networks which are now a significant component of the Internet. In fact, entities like Netflix will force and enable this expansion to happen.

This video gets to the bottom of the Comcast versus Level 3 Communications dispute by explaining how peering and Internet transit functions, and by examining the known facts surrounding this dispute.

Essentially because the FCC Net Neutrality proposal is surprisingly fair and seems to stem from compromise from both sides of the debate FreePress has decided the FCC is adopting ‘fake Net Neutrality”.

The FCC has posted a nice HD copy of a video of Chairman Genachowskis presentation from December 1st. The speech goes over the proposal for the rules expected for preserving the “open Internet”.

Mr. Genachowski’s proposal is likely the near-term ceiling on regulation. Policy might get better than today’s proposal, but it’s not likely to get any worse. From what I see today, that’s a win for the Internet, and for the U.S. economy.

Wax and Schanz have thrown together a nice video explaining peering and paid-peering. If you are concerned about the Comcast – Level 3 dispute, this is a good video to get a footing as to what is actually being discussed in the dispute.

It seems like every time there is a problem between business relationships in the telecom world these days, one side screams “Net Neutrality” and the blogosphere, twitterverse and news media go bananas. It’s like screaming fire in a movie theater, or yelling bomb in an airport, or even playing the race card in some hotly debated political issue.