NEW YORK TIMES Editorial: …The ruling, by a three-judge panel, could undermine the open nature of the Internet. The court’s decision turned on how the F.C.C. classified broadband Internet service, which in recent years has become a major telecommunications utility used by most Americans to reach popular services like YouTube, Skype and Netflix. The trouble is that the commission called Internet service an “information” service, which Congress has said can be only lightly regulated. By contrast, the traditional telephone network is considered a telecommunications service and is closely regulated, with companies prohibited from engaging in “unjust or unreasonable discrimination” in selling those services.
If this ruling stands, broadband providers would be free to strike deals with companies like Netflix and Apple to pay to have their movies, software and other data streamed to customers faster than or ahead of other content. Such deals would hurt smaller businesses or start-ups that cannot afford to pay for preferential treatment…
Verizon and other broadband providers have said they have no intention of blocking Internet traffic. But their commitment to an open Internet could change in the future. Ideally, Congress would pass a law prohibiting broadband companies from discriminating or blocking content, but that is unlikely to happen given industry opposition. That’s why it’s important for the commission to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service… (more)
