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Comcast could receive $1.77 Trillion fine

downloadsquad.com — According to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a group of consumer advocates and legal scholars have asked the commission to look into Comcast discriminating against specific types of data (read: Bit Torrent). The groups have also requested the FCC to fine Comcast $195,000 per affected subscribers.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 9, 2008

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  • otw7, on 01/09/2008, -4/+698I really hope Comcast pays a huge fine, just because they thought it would be cheaper to throttle bit torrent.
  • inactive, on 01/09/2008, -6/+387$195,000 per customer is a lot!

    Now I'm curious, how will I be receiving this $195,000?

    (I would gladly even take $1000 at this point.)
  • 89vision, on 01/09/2008, -15/+310I hope they reimburse me for all the music I have had to pay for since they started throttling my bittorrent traffic!
  • apb1991, on 01/09/2008, -1/+211By the time lawyers are done you might get $10
  • bightchee, on 01/09/2008, -35/+202If elected Ron Paul will personally eat the 1.77 trillion single dollar bills to prevent the government from getting it. He will also personally shoot dead every IRS employee. Vote Paul!
  • donkz, on 01/09/2008, -4/+151Am I the only one who thinks this publicity trick is never going to happen?
  • JonesJohnson, on 01/09/2008, -4/+119I downloade a lot of torrents using my Comcast cable connection. Generally, they're movies of the 16:9 widescreen variety, which is coincidentally, equivalent to a 1.77 ratio. 1.77 ratio, $1.77 trillion.

    It all makes sense now.
  • blackmage439, on 01/09/2008, -1/+109I think it's funny for all of that company's documented offenses, this is what gets them burned.
  • Mockylock, on 01/09/2008, -2/+105I think I paid that much for my Comcast bill, just last year. Why isn't THAT investigated?
  • timbo458, on 01/09/2008, -2/+95Comcast won't pay a penny, their subscribers will.
  • kent1146, on 01/09/2008, -2/+81How do you think they are going to cover this fine? They're gonna pass it on to the consumer.... in small bits, like a "$1.75 recovery fee" to each and every customer per month.

  • JAGUART, on 01/09/2008, -2/+78 $1.77 trillion fine? Wow, you'd think RIAA was suing them with those numbers.
  • kevinmotel, on 01/09/2008, -3/+77thats cool. i can then take the 10 dollars, go out, and buy a CD. nah i think i'll just bittorrent it
  • NichowA, on 01/09/2008, -0/+62No one thought that the chick who got sued for 24 songs on Kazaa would end up paying over $9000 per song, either.
  • sotopheavy, on 01/09/2008, -6/+63They push us we push back. They throttle us we throttle them. I would be glad to have the FCC finally do something for the consumer. They will never have to pay this fine though. The worst that will happen is they will be warned by the FCC and Comcast will stop the throttling to avoid the fine.
  • Bantec, on 01/09/2008, -2/+53This will be struck down by a few key members of the FCC committee. A few months later they will resign their positions to 'work in the public sector', and coincidentally Comcast will hire them to extreeeeeemly lucrative and prestigious positions. They will deny any conflict of interest and we will get totally screwed by one of our wonderfull government agencies once again.
  • cyssero, on 04/18/2009, -3/+52They will never get a huge fine like that, it's like the RIAA suing me for every copyrighted MP3 I have - $1,715,750,000 (at $250,000 per offence).
  • SouthsideIrish, on 01/09/2008, -0/+43I think it is a government fine, not a class action lawsuit, so consider it a tax, and the FCC keeps all of it. This is one of the reasons I wish we had restitution in this country, cause we should be getting more than a little bit of it.
  • azizrulez, on 01/09/2008, -4/+46THIS IS PROBABLY THE REASON WHY YOUR ALONE IN THE FIRST PLACE
  • GliTCH82, on 01/09/2008, -0/+42If it raises awareness, maybe that's enough to deal Comcast a blow.
  • GunbladeVIII, on 01/09/2008, -3/+44I'd like for Comcast to be smacked silly with fines, but the problem is that they're likely to pass that cost on to their customers. Not a good thing for those of us in Comcast's Philadelphia Monopoly Zone who don't yet have access to FiOS...
  • smackafiyah, on 01/09/2008, -3/+42[dr. evil]1.77 trillion dollars![/dr evil]
  • djgump35, on 01/09/2008, -5/+41I don't know what kind of fine they may get, but I highly doubt they get that 195,000 for each of 9.1 million customers, but I do wonder if you would have to implicate yourself on your download records to submit times you think you were throttled, or if they will just look at the company top to bottom. To that end, I wonder if the whole thing will be public.

    Doesn't this kind of support the thought that net neutrality goes against our rights, especially as they are interpreted and defended by the fcc?
  • cawpin, on 01/09/2008, -3/+37Not if they issue the fine correctly. They can specify that they not bill the customers for it.
  • FeloniusMonkey, on 01/09/2008, -0/+33My Comcast Haiku

    Comcast bites my wang.
    They throttle my connection.
    Comcastic... my ass!
  • yeti22, on 01/09/2008, -9/+41This is a ridiculous thread. The only time the article mentions the absurd fine is to say, "We don't really think Comcast will be forced to fork out the projected $1.77 trillion", and that gets turned into "Comcast could pay $1.77 trillion fine". Let me spell it out for you: No, they could not. Did you even look to see where that number came from? 9.1 million total subscribers does not equal 9.1 million internet-subscribers-using-bit-torrent, and the $195,000 per subscriber number has that fresh-from-someone's-ass aroma about it.

    Jesus people, do you really accept everything you read this uncritically? This is not remotely connected to the real world.

    The headline should read: Unnamed advocate group makes up large, ***** number for Comcast fine, blogger multiplies it by even larger ***** number, Diggers plan what to do with their portion of the fine. A little wordy, but 100% factual.
  • Error601, on 01/09/2008, -5/+37No, they couldn't. Totally ridiculous claims by some advocate group does not even enter the "could" category.
  • bahamutxd, on 01/09/2008, -1/+32Not so Comcastic now, huh Comcast?
  • LuckyASN, on 01/09/2008, -0/+31They'll still find a way to do it. Comcast is forever always upping their bills annually.
  • warcin, on 01/09/2008, -8/+37And RP is about as likely to be elected as this fine has of being applied, in other words none at all
  • tuxidomasx, on 01/09/2008, -3/+31wow, this is turning out to be a great day.

    first i win two free ipod nanos from digg

    and now i might be able to get money back from comcast.
  • aresef, on 01/09/2008, -1/+29In pennies. 19,500,000 pennies.
  • wes00mertes, on 01/09/2008, -1/+29Sooo, nothing?
  • EvileSpawn, on 01/09/2008, -0/+25fine or no - their customer service is still going to suck
  • GLMonkey, on 01/09/2008, -2/+23HOLY CRAP!!! The lady on the website told me that I had been selected to receive 2 free ipod nano's. I should click it soon, or it may run out...seriously, Digg, get some better ads. When I am surfing digg, the last thing I want to hear is that whiny voice telling me I have won an iphone, or 2 free ipod nano's, or an xbox 360 elite...
  • slapded, on 01/09/2008, -0/+20yeah but u can get internet/tv/phone for 29.99 for the first 6 months! /sarcasm
  • Maloney, on 01/09/2008, -0/+20dugg for over 9000
  • Vektuz, on 01/09/2008, -1/+19Its not funny. ... its vitally important.
    Getting away with this means that they'll try to get away with something else soon again. For example, throttling skype becuase it "competes" with their ***** voip service, or throttling newsgroups or other TV-related services or even individual websites because they feel it encroaches on their business model.
  • DietMountainDew, on 01/09/2008, -0/+16There is no way this would go through, even for $1,000 per infraction. But the sad thing is if the RIAA sues you for downloading songs the government wouldn't think twice about letting them sue you for $3,000 per song.
  • Brad324, on 01/09/2008, -2/+18but I can throttle your mom
  • eosp, on 01/09/2008, -1/+17OVER 9000!!!
  • Recuso, on 01/09/2008, -2/+17That was the dumbest thing I ever read. And I accidentally reported your comment (because it was so dumb)
  • DeathMarcher, on 01/09/2008, -1/+16...OK, deal.
  • dafragsta, on 01/09/2008, -1/+14She still hasn't. I don't think there has been a case yet where someone has gotten that kind of ruling and accepted it.
  • yunus, on 01/09/2008, -1/+13If everyone had to allow their download records to be aired in open court to collect on this fine the money would go from Comcast, into our hands for a minute then into the hands of the RIAA/MPAA.
  • Ouze, on 01/09/2008, -1/+13It would be pretty awesome if they delivered 2 of these bad boys: http://kokogiak.com/megapenny/seven.asp
    (not spam, swear)
  • weeeezzll, on 01/09/2008, -1/+13Which will be enough for me...
  • protogenxl, on 01/09/2008, -1/+12If you need proof that will not implicate yourself just torrent linux distros
  • inactive, on 01/09/2008, -1/+12No, they really couldn't.
  • breezytrees, on 01/09/2008, -6/+16:'-(
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