Tucked away in Google Fiber's terms of service is one clause that might annoy some technically included users. "Unless you have a written agreement with Google Fiber permitting you do so, you should not host any type of server using your Google Fiber connection," Google tells subscribers to its Gigabit Internet service.
A man in Kansas named Douglas McClendon complained that this clause violates the Federal Communication Commission's Open Internet Order, which states that "Fixed broadband providers may not block lawful content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices."
The FCC ordered Google to respond, and the company did so yesterday in a letter to the FCC that Wired obtained from McClendon. Google says its terms of service do not violate the FCC's Open Internet Order:
Google Fiber’s server policy is an aspect of “reasonable network management” that the Open Internet Order and Rules specifically permit. Mr. McClendon appears to allege that Google Fiber’s server policy violates the prohibitions against “blocking” and/or “unreasonable discrimination." The Order, however, provides an exception in both instances for “reasonable network management.” As the Order explains, “[a] network management practice is reasonable if it is appropriate and tailored to achieving a legitimate network management purpose, taking into account the particular network architecture and technology of the broadband Internet access service.”
Google Fiber’s server policy is prototypical “reasonable network management,” with no discriminatory impact on any content, application, or service provider. The server policy has been established to account for the congestion management and network security needs of Google Fiber’s network architecture, particularly given that Google Fiber does not impose data caps on its users.
Google isn't alone in imposing these sorts of rules. Comcast restricts use of servers including "e-mail, Web hosting, file sharing, and proxy services and servers."
A "server" can be any type of computer if it runs server software, regardless of whether it's one of the expensive machines that are used in data centers and usually associated with the word.
As Wired reporter Ryan Singel notes, Google's terms of service would technically ban things like Minecraft servers and Slingbox. "But in the Google Fiber forums, employees assure subscribers the rules aren’t meant to apply to Minecraft servers," Singel wrote. "And, in reality, Google Fiber probably won’t notice, let alone kick you off, for using a Slingbox or peer-to-peer software."