The Federal Communications Commission's Network Neutrality Order

摘要

The Open Internet Order adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in late February 2015 regulates Internet service providers, including cable companies, telephone companies, fixed wireless (principally fee-based Wi-Fi service), and mobile service carriers, such as Verizon and Sprint (collectively "broadband providers"). The Open Internet rules are currently in effect. Prior to the Open Internet Order, Internet access service was classified as an interstate "information service." The rates, terms and conditions, and related business practices of broadband providers were largely unregulated, and the largest Internet backbone providers (which are also the largest broadband service providers) set the rules governing the exchange of Internet traffic. The FCC's initial Internet conduct rules-anti-blocking and anti-discrimination-and a transparency rule were adopted in 2010, but the conduct rules were vacated by the D.C. Circuit in Verizon Communications Inc. v. FCC. In response, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking setting forth proposed rules intended to proscribe potential inappropriate business practices on the part of broadband providers. The public's cognizance of, and participation in, this rulemaking are unprecedented. In most FCC rulemaking proceedings, even highly contested matters, the only persons who file comments are the affected companies, interested trade associations, and public interest groups. Occasionally, several hundred parties file comments. Nearly four million persons submitted filings to the FCC in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, emphasizing potential abuses by the largest broadband providers and the importance of preserving the openness of the Internet. In his widely publicized statement in November 2014, President Obama stressed the importance of an open Internet and opined that broadband providers should be regulated as telecommunications carriers under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act). This survey provides a basic overview of the Open Internet Order. Readers who seek additional detail may consult the full Order, weighing in at 400 single-spaced pages.