Net Neutrality Complaint Filed Against Time Warner Cable

Well, that didn't take long.

Time Warner Cable has already received its first complaint for violating the newly minted Federal Communications Commission net neutrality rules. (Video via Time Warner Cable)

The complaint, which The Washington Post reported in mid-June, is from a San Diego-based company called Commercial Network Services, or CNS.

CNS, a streaming company, alleges Time Warner Cable is violating the “no paid prioritization” and “no throttling” sections of the new net neutrality rules.

“All in favor say, "Aye." Opposed? The Ayes Have It,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said at the net neutrality vote in February.

Essentially, CNS wants Time Warner Cable to allow it to stream its Webcam videos to certain Time Warner subscribers for free.

The FCC’s new net neutrality rules established three main rules when it comes to keeping the Internet open:

No blocking simply means broadband providers can’t do exactly that — block legal content, applications, services or nonharmful devices.

No throttling meaning providers can’t slow Internet speeds.

And there's no paid prioritization, so providers can’t create “fast lanes” — or quicker Internet speeds — for folks who pay more.

Time Warner has said it’s not doing anything wrong though and told The Washington Post in a statement it’s confident the FCC will agree. (Video via Time Warner Cable)

Another statement to The Register said while Time Warner does have arrangement with other network operators that allow for service similar to what CNS wants, CNS simply doesn’t qualify.

The complaint is only informal for now, so it may not end up going to the FCC in the end. If it does, however, The Washington Post’s Brian Fung points out that Time Warner Cable may be right in assuming the FCC won’t find it at fault. (Video via Federal Communications Commission)

That’s because of the “No Paid Prioritization” part of CNS’ complaint. While this only applies to the “last mile” part of a connection — where it's between an ISP and the customer — the CNS is complaining about a connection further up the stream.

This video includes images from Getty Images.