Comcast is defending its changed net neutrality pledges in the face of criticism from Internet users.

The deletion of a net neutrality promise immediately after the Federal Communications Commission started repealing its net neutrality rules is just a "language" change, the company says. Comcast is telling customers that it still has no plans to institute paid prioritization—while avoiding a promise that it won't do so in the future.

We wrote a story Monday about recent changes to Comcast's net neutrality promises and followed up on Wednesday with further details.

Up until April 26 of this year, Comcast's net neutrality webpage said that "Comcast doesn't prioritize Internet traffic or create paid fast lanes."

April 26 is when Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced the first version of his plan to eliminate net neutrality rules. The paid prioritization statement has been missing from that page since then, though Comcast still says it doesn't block, throttle, or "discriminate against" lawful Internet traffic.





Comcast, the biggest home Internet provider in the US, has declined to tell us why this language changed. But Comcast spokesperson Sena Fitzmaurice spoke to the Denver Post about the change yesterday. "Is the language exactly the same in 2017 as 2010? No," Fitzmaurice said, according to the Post's story.

In 2014, Comcast said that it agreed with then-President Obama's stance that there should be "no paid prioritization."

Paid prioritization vs. data cap exemptions

Why has the language changed? Fitzmaurice pointed to filings that Comcast made with the FCC this year.

"Part of the filings we did this year about paid prioritization is that there have been some things in the marketplace that have come out and been pro-consumer," she told the Post. "Some people call it 'zero ratings.' Some people call it paid prioritization, like T-Mobile's Binge On plan. A lot were up in arms about it but a lot of consumers seemed to like it."

Fitzmaurice, who also made the zero-rating comparison a few days ago on Twitter, is conflating two different things here.

Paid prioritization would involve a website or online application provider paying an ISP like Comcast for faster access to Internet users and is banned outright by the current net neutrality rules.

Zero-rating is the exemption of certain Internet content from data caps. This isn't banned by the net neutrality rules, but it could fall afoul of the FCC's "general conduct rule" if it is implemented in a way that harms consumers or competitors.

T-Mobile's Binge On program exempts video sites from data caps but doesn't require video providers to pay for the zero-rating. The FCC under then-Chairman Tom Wheeler said this sort of program was allowed because it benefited consumers without harming video providers.

Wheeler's FCC tried to stop AT&T and Verizon's zero-rating programs because those companies exempt their own video services from data caps while charging other video providers for the same exemptions. Pai ended that investigation when he took over as chair and said that the FCC would not punish carriers for any zero-rating programs, so there have effectively been no restrictions on zero-rating for nearly a year.

Comcast could thus adopt zero-rating today with no fear of reprisal from the FCC, but it has to wait for the net neutrality rules to be eliminated before implementing paid prioritization.

Comcast has also been saying that paid prioritization should be allowed because it would benefit telemedicine systems. But the current rules already contain an exception that lets ISPs provide isolated network capacity to telemedicine and certain other applications.

After the FCC eliminates the rules, ISPs will be free to sell priority access to any kind of website or online service.

“No plans” for paid prioritization

Comcast's official Twitter account has also been responding to angry Internet users who criticized Comcast for changing its net neutrality promises. In dozens of tweets sent to people who criticized the company, Comcast said, "We haven't entered into any paid prioritization agreements and we have no plans to do so." (Here is one of those tweets.)

But the deletion of the paid prioritization pledge from Comcast's net neutrality webpage could be important after the FCC drops its net neutrality rules. If ISPs make promises and then break them, the Federal Trade Commission could punish them for misleading customers. Scaling back promises could help Comcast avoid government interference if it implements paid prioritization in the future.

Comcast's language change "could signal that they plan to do some things that they didn't plan to before or it could signal they want flexibility and they don't have any plans," University of Colorado Boulder law professor Blake Reid told the Denver Post.