While a lot was been made of the FCC's investigation and Comcast's shift to a "protocol agnostic" network management system, the recent FCC order (pdf) didn't actually punish Comcast, didn't request they do anything they didn't plan to do voluntarily, and might not even be enforceable in court anyway. While Comcast is voluntarily shifting from controversial packet forgery to a new 250GB cap and targeted throttling, the company has never admitted any wrong doing, and has long hinted they'd challenge the FCC's legal authority.

As we've discussed, the FCC's network neutrality principles (pdf) are not law, and aren't particularly tough -- largely because a well-lobbied FCC designed them that way. This was the first time anyone had violated them. As they had promised, Comcast today appealed (pdf filing) the FCC's recent ruling. While they plan to comply with the FCC's desire for more transparency, Comcast clearly wants to keep the FCC out of future network management plans.

"We filed this appeal in order to protect our legal rights and to challenge the basis on which the [FCC] found that Comcast violated federal policy in the absence of pre-existing legally enforceable standards or rules," says Comcast executive vice president David L. Cohen. According to Cohen, the FCC's recent ruling "was legally inappropriate and its findings were not justified by the record."

Consumer advocates have strongly disagreed with the argument that the FCC doesn't have the authority to police Comcast. "Comcast is wrong," says Free Press attorney Marvin Ammori. "Comcast is not above the law -- in fact, the Commission has asserted eight different bases for its authority, and every one of these asserted bases independently confers Title I authority."

Gentlemen, start your lawyers.