A federal appeals court ruled that the Federal Communications Commission "lacks the authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks," the NY Times reports. The FCC had sanctioned Internet service provider Comcast for slowing down its customers' access to Bit Torrent, but the judges decided, 3-0, that the Congress did not give the agency "untrammeled freedom to regulate activities."
The FCC had argued that all ISPs should treat all content delivery—as long as it's legal—the same. But now the Times explains, "The ruling would allow Comcast and other Internet service providers to restrict consumers’ ability to access certain kinds of Internet content, such as video sites like Hulu.com or Google’s YouTube service, or charge certain heavy users of their networks more money for access."
The FCC issued a statement, "The FCC is firmly committed to promoting an open Internet and to policies that will bring the enormous benefits of broadband to all Americans. It will rest these policies—all of which will be designed to foster innovation and investment while protecting and empowering consumers—on a solid legal foundation. Today’s court decision invalidated the prior Commission’s approach to preserving an open Internet. But the Court in no way disagreed with the importance of preserving a free and open Internet; nor did it close the door to other methods for achieving this important end.”
Public interest group Free Press policy director Ben Scott doesn't think the FCC will appeal to the Supreme Court or ask Congress for more regulatory power over broadband. According to USA Today, "The more likely scenario, Scott believes, is that the agency will simply reclassify broadband as a more heavily regulated telecommuniciations service."
The Wall Street Journal Digits blog runs down the winners and losers, like ISPs, who are winners because they claim "they need to be able to impose such restrictions to keep traffic for other users flowing smoothly, and they also could favor charging for any increases in bandwidth usage that some sites require," and consumers groups, who are losers because, as one group said, ISPs “will constantly invent excuses to exercise their market power to undermine competition and limit the freedom of speech."
