The FCC’s new rules protecting Net Neutrality go into effect today.
The rules were published in a 400 page document back in March, detailing all of the web protections. To oversimplify, reclassifying the Internet as a utility means carriers and ISPs will no longer be able to prioritize some services over others. Nor can they degrade a service for the benefit of another.
Internet Service Providers are challenging these new rules, claiming they overstep the FCC’s authority and violate federal law. The United States Telecom Association requested a hold on implementing these rules as they try to fight them in court, but a three judge panel Appellate Court in DC denied their stay. We will see an accelerated time table for litigation however, in two weeks the Telecom Association and the FCC will present schedules for additional briefing.
In the meantime however, Net Neutrality will be the law of the land. The real test will come from this first year of implementation, to see if any of the doom and gloom predictions of the Telecom industry come true.