Will Bright Line Net Neutrality Rules Hold Up in Court?

With the Federal Communications Commission having voted 3-2 along party lines to reclassify broadband as a telecom service under Title II regulations, the new Internet rules will be tied up in court for years from lawsuits, Broadcasting & Cable's John Eggerton reports.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is confident that the new net neutrality rules will survive a court challenge even though prior rules did not, Ars Technica's Jon Brodkin reports. Wheeler said that "'the DC Circuit sent the previous Open Internet Order back to us and basically said, 'hey, you're trying to impose common carrier-like regulation without stepping up and saying, 'these are common carriers.' We have addressed that issue, that is the underlying issue, that is the sine qua non of the all the debates we've had so far. That gives me great confidence going forward."'

There are now bright-line rules against blocking and throttling Internet traffic as well as against having paid fast lanes for Internet traffic. 

In dissent, Eggerton reports that Commissioner Michael O'Rielly said that, while there are three bright-line rules, they are "'mere needles in a Title II haystack,"' and the FCC's case-by-case standard for reviewing behavior by internet service providers that fall outside those areas will "'be conducted through case-by-case adjudication, mostly at the Bureau level and in the courts.'"