Comcast exec: Expect more Web regulation

WASHINGTON--Web companies had better get used to more government interference, intervention, and regulation targeting their businesses, Kevin Kuzas, vice president and general counsel for Comcast Interactive Media, said on Wednesday.

Kuzas gave a keynote address at a Web 2.0 forum on Wednesday hosted by business and legal publisher Pike & Fischer.

There's a myth among Web entrepreneurs, Kuzas said, that the government is irrelevant to their business.

Kevin Kuzas of Comcast Interactive Media speaks about Web 2.0 law on Wednesday.

(Credit: Stephanie Condon/CNET Networks)

"There's a little bit of truth to this idea that policy makers are undoubtedly far behind," he said. "Government regulation can take years, while a Web 2.0 product is on a time frame of months, if that.

Web 2.0 companies will certainly attract more attention as larger companies enter the fray. Comcast Interactive Media started in January 2006, and along with Comcast.net, it runs a number of socially oriented ventures, such as the movie site Fandango and the social e-newsletter Daily Candy.

"So far, politicians have had a hands-off approach to the Internet," Kuzas said. "But "that kind of disparate treatment will go away over time."

Even though CIM is affiliated with a heavily regulated cable television business, Kuzas said it should be regulated more like Google than Comcast.

He said Congress is receptive to suggestions in the way it approaches Web law, particularly with respect to copyright law.

On Capitol Hill, there is "more recognition that the (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) is 10 years old and doesn't really fit these companies anymore," he said. Change is possible, "but we're looking at a multiyear time frame."

It's unclear how much of the talk was in reference to the Federal Communications Commission's recent action against Comcast on BitTorrent grounds, which the broadband provider has appealed, or a warning to Internet companies like Google that have been Comcast's political rivals on Net neutrality in the past.

[UITD]

Sounds very much like a child in a playground who got scolded for throwing rocks at another. He goes running around whining about how the playground monitor will yell at you if you're thinking about stepping foot onto the playground.

Baby.

[umbrae]

Wah wah wah. Comcast is just bitter. Yes, the government is going to slap you when you doing something wrong, and will legislate when people are hurt or complain. Block legitimate traffic or services customers are using then you should expect a backlash.

[Thomas, David]

Comcast, and other companies like them, need to be eliminated as the sole providers for internet access. When all the other ISPs were bought out, and/or went out of business, these companies have less a desire to provide a true service, and more an incentive to squeeze every dollar from the consumer, in any wacky conceivable way they can.

There must be alternatives again, soon.