Over the last few years, the FCC and the broadband companies have been at war over whether the internet should be kept “neutral,” or whether Verizon would be legally allowed to choke off your Netflix in a fit of pique. Obama had to step in and ultimately the FCC ruled that your internet provider couldn’t charge you to get online and then charge websites for access to you. So, of course, they sued. And now, they’ve lost, but it’s not over yet.
The broadband companies had three arguments: One, that their free speech was being restricted by, um, not being able to charge people to engage in speech; two, that they were an “information service” that just happened to use telecommunications instead of an “information service,” in other words that they were Netflix; and three, basically that the FCC didn’t have the power to do this, that even if it did have the power, it didn’t have the authority to do this, and that even if it did have the power and authority, it did it, in legal parlance, “because they’re meanies.” The court was unimpressed with these arguments.
It would be nice if they accepted that this was the end of it, but it isn’t. They can take it to the Supreme Court. But far more likely, what will happen is they’ll attempt to go to Congress, which has tried to end this argument in the past, and ask them to change the rules. While it’s unlikely they’ll find any firm allies, they might be able to get the rules rewritten to cut the FCC out of these decisions. And the law may exempt broadband companies from the antitrust legislation that torpedoed the much dreaded Comcast/Time Warner merger. So this is a major win for the FCC, but the freedom of the internet isn’t guaranteed just yet.
(via Ars Technica)