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Net Neutrality Falls by the Wayside ' Again

By Samuel Fineman
January 31, 2014

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) failed again in its attempt to regulate broadband Internet service providers. On January 14, a unanimous three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the FCC lacked the legal authority to write certain rules governing the management of data on the Internet ' popularly known as the “network neutrality” rules. The decision could leave companies such as Netflix Inc. and Amazon, Inc. facing higher charges for the fastest service.

In Verizon v. Federal Communications Commission, 11-1356, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals gave the FCC one important victory, establishing for the first time that the agency has the authority to issue rules governing broadband providers. But the agency's Open Internet Order (Preserving Open Internet; Final Rule, 76 Fed. Reg. 59,192) was improper, the court found, because it treats broadband providers as common carriers, like telephone companies.

“Even though the Commission has general authority to regulate in this arena, it may not impose requirements that contravene express statutory mandates,” wrote Judge David Tatel. “Given that the commission has chosen to classify broadband providers in a manner that exempts them from treatment as common carriers, the Communications Act expressly prohibits the commission from nonetheless regulating them as such,” Tatel wrote.

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