The FCC needs to take steps to keep the Internet free of interference from broadband providers, such as the slowing of peer-to-peer traffic and the tracking of subscribers' Web habits, several witnesses told the FCC at a hearing Monday.

The FCC should take fast action against broadband providers that block access to legal online applications, especially those who don't notify their subscribers, said Marge Krueger, administrator of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) for the district covering Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Krueger didn't name providers that have slowed access to applications, but Comcast has been in the news in recent months for slowing access to the BitTorrent peer-to-peer application. A Comcast representative didn't testify at Monday's hearing at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, but the company has repeatedly said it slows BitTorrent traffic at limited times of peak traffic.

Another witness complained that some broadband providers are using deep-packet inspection techniques to track subscribers' Internet use, in an effort to deliver targeted advertising. NebuAd, a California company, has worked with several broadband providers to provide this targeted ad service, but several privacy groups and U.S. lawmakers have objected to the tracking.

Deep-packet inspection can be a useful tool for network management, said David Farber, a computer science and public policy professor at Carnegie Mellon. "What's almost obscene is the fact that people are using it to gather information about what I'm sending on the network and selling that information to other people," Farber said. "That is completely obscene and should be stopped."

Several members of the public also called on the FCC to enforce so-called network neutrality rules that would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. Small video producers and other online businesses will not be able to compete without net neutrality rules, said one Carnegie Mellon student.

But Robert Quinn, senior vice president for federal regulatory policy at AT&T, asked the FCC to look carefully before regulating how broadband providers can mange their networks. While the FCC has the power to enforce net neutrality rules, broadband providers need to be able to manage their networks as more and more subscribers begin to use high-bandwidth applications such as video, he said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.