After months of deliberation and debate, the FCC voted 3-2 in support of a new set of laws that would maintain the internet's status as an equal playing ground for online users and businessmen. The vote drastically expanded the FCC's influence over broadband providers, or ISPs for short. The new rules make it illegal for ISPs to purposefully slow down data or for them to create internet "fast lanes" that sites could receive access to if they paid extra.
While the laws were originally designed to just apply to broadband providers like Comcast or Cox, the new bill expanded the restrictions to cell phone providers as well. The FCC has been working on these laws for a while, according to the Washington Post. However, its success didn't occur until the FCC chairman, who was previously a cable provider lobbyist, made a huge turn and began supporting net neutrality and Title II.
Many in the political field thought that the passing of something as strong as Title II was impossible. According to the New Yorker, "Kevin Werbach, a thoughtful and prominent analyst, predicted that 'the political and marketplace costs' of strong net-neutrality rules would be just "too great." He warned, among other things, that Congress would "grind the FCC to a standstill, starve its budget, and do everything in their power to inflict permanent harm on the agency." However, the results ended up being the opposite. Leaders of a Republican-led Congress announced on Tuesday that they would recede their bill that would invalidate the FCC vote today. According to Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the grassroots movement supporting the FCC's vote was too large for Republicans to combat.
While this ruling is a big win for the FCC and for the open internet, ISPs have already started plans to sue the FCC in order to overturn it. There is also the possibility of a GOP-led FCC overturning the rules. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, who was one of the two FCC members who voted against the ruling, believes the policy will let Obama "micromanage the internet."
This was the third attempt by the FCC to enable net neutrality, and all past attempts were taken down by the court, according to the Washington Post.
