Net Neutrality Before Appeals Court

The Federal Communications Commission will defend its controversial net neutrality regulations against Verizon’s legal challenge in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today in a case that will have a major impact on the Internet. The rules, implemented in 2010, require Internet service providers to treat traffic to all websites equally, and prevent cell phone carriers from blocking access to lawful websites or discriminating against competing business. The intent is to keep providers from slowing down, blocking or speeding up access to a particular site, depending on its financial relationship to the site. Opponents claim the rules are an unnecessary burden on business, and Verizon plans to argue that Congress never granted the FCC the authority to regulate broadband Internet service.