Challenge to Internet ‘neutrality’ rejected

WASHINGTON – A federal court on Thursday declined to halt implementation of tough new net neutrality regulations.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied petitions for a temporary stay made by AT&T Inc. and other opponents of the online traffic rules.

The decision allows the regulations to take effect as scheduled today while the court considers lawsuits asking that the rules be tossed out. The judges also granted a request for an expedited review of the suits.

“This is a huge victory for Internet consumers and innovators,” said Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which approved the controversial rules in February.

“Starting Friday, there will be a referee on the field to keep the Internet fast, fair and open,” he said.

But the fight isn’t over, said Meredith Attwell-Baker, president of CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade group.

“The case is just beginning and the stakes are high,” she said. “The U.S. is the world’s leader in the deployment and adoption of wireless broadband, due in large measure to decades of light-touch regulation.”

The regulations, proposed by Wheeler and publicly backed by President Barack Obama, prohibit broadband providers from blocking, slowing or selling faster delivery of legal content flowing through their networks to consumers.

Twice before courts have thwarted the FCC’s efforts to establish net neutrality rules. So this time the FCC decided to classify high-speed Internet as a telecommunications service under Title 2 of the federal Communications Act, subjecting it to utility-like oversight.

Among those who have filed a legal challenge to the rules are AT&T, CTIA, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and CenturyLink.