Federal Court Sides With Telecom, Deals Blow to Open Internet

In a decision that may "serve as a sorry memorial to the corporate abrogation of free speech," a U.S. appeals court on Tuesday struck down the Federal Communications Commissions rules on "net neutrality."

Image: Free Press Net neutrality means that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) must treat all content the same. Internet freedom group Free Press explains that with net neutrality, ISPs "may not discriminate between different kinds of online content and apps. It guarantees a level playing field for all websites and Internet technologies."

Reuters reports that during oral argument in the lawsuit brought by Verizon Communications Inc,

Verizon's lawyer said the regulations violated the company's right to free speech and stripped control of what its networks transmit and how.

Ahead of the ruling Josh Levy of Free Press warned that "If Verizon gets its way, the FCCs rules protecting Internet users from corporate abuse will disappear."

Tuesday's ruling siding with Verizon "is a game-changer," business and technology site Gigaom reports,

because it upsets the FCCs current practice of requiring broadband internet providers to act akin to common carriers. In plain English, this means that they have had to behave in a similar way to phone companies and not give special preference to one type of call (or traffic) over another, even though the FCCs authority to regulate the broadband providers was not clear cut.

Net neutrality advocates are calling Tuesday's ruling "disappointing," and are warning that big telecommunications companies will be able to turn what was a move towards an open Internet into "something that looks like cable TV."

The ruling "is poised to end the free, open, and uncensored Internet that we have come to rely on," former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, special adviser to advocacy group Common Causes Media and Democracy Initiative, said in a statement.

Craig Aaron, President and CEO of Free Press, issued a statement saying that ruling means that Internet users will be pitted against the biggest phone and cable companiesand in the absence of any oversight, these companies can now block and discriminate against their customers communications at will."

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Federal Court Sides With Telecom, Deals Blow to Open Internet