Net Neutrality Goes To Court

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments challenging the Federal Communications Commission’s open internet rules.

FCC Chair Tom Wheeler. Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images

The Federal Communications Commission defended its open internet rules in court Friday, facing off against a telecommunication industry questioning its network neutrality regulations. Those rules, initially approved in February, block internet service providers (ISPs) from discriminating against web content, from establishing internet "fast-lanes," and from tweaking download speeds to favor or disfavor web content.

While the D.C. Court of Appeals has prevented the FCC from instituting such rules in the past, the commission, in its open internet rules, classified broadband providers as a kind of utility, granting the commission greater power to regulate them. The FCC believes net neutrality will help keep web services competitive for companies and consumers, free from the favoritism and discrimination of ISPs; in contrast, the telecom industry argues that the commission overstepped its authority, inviting government meddling, and interfering with the free enterprise of the broadband market.

Lawyers for both parties laid out their positions during more than three hours of oral arguments. A three-judge panel needled the attorneys with questions and challenged them with lines of argument.

Arguing against the FCC, US Telecom believes that ISPs should be classified as an information service, like Google, rather than a telecommunication service, like a telephone company. As an information service, ISPs are subject to less stringent regulation, and under that classification, undermines the FCC's ability to impose net neutrality rules on broadband providers.

PBS / Via giphy.com

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