Comcast today came out with a very interesting post over at the Comcast blog, in which the company pretends to support the FCC's new push to impose network neutrality rules -- sort of. That's strange, given that Comcast sued the FCC when the FCC gave Comcast a love tap for throttling upstream P2P traffic -- a technology debate that first began in our forums and exploded into a national network nerd firestorm. According to chief Comcast lobbying guru David L. Cohen, the company "supports and honors" the FCC's neutrality policies:Technically, Comcast first lied about throttling upstream P2P traffic 24/7, for all users, both in filings and to the press. Then, after Comcast's clumsy bludgeoning of P2P traffic was clearly documented by numerous parties, the carrier engaged in endless semantics and countless denials. Comcast then proceeded to sue the FCC, arguing that existing network neutrality principles are "not binding legal obligations" (pdf) and were utterly unenforceable. If that's Comcast's version of "honor and respect," one would hate to see the carrier when they're feeling cagey and disrespectful.

Granted, the bad press and threat of regulation ultimately resulted in Comcast employing a much more user friendly traffic management system that only temporarily throttles heavy users if they're on a congested node, and they're a major reason that node's congested. Still, Cohen's contention that Comcast didn't come to this resolution kicking, spitting and screaming after months of distortion gives his company considerably more credit than it deserves.