“Despite the Federal Communications Commission’s historic vote Thursday in favor of net neutrality, the fate of the Internet is far from settled,” Roger Yu and Mike Snider report for USA Today. “he FCC’s action triggered jubilation among open Internet enthusiasts, but the powerful telecom industry is poised for a legal challenge to the new rules. And Republicans in Congress are pushing legislation that would supersede the FCC’s approach.”
“Responding to the outcome with mockery and defiance, Verizon dismissed the new guidelines, which are based on a 1934 law, as a set of rules ‘written in the era of the steam locomotive and the telegraph,'” Yu and Snider report. “And in a clever PR gambit that was shared widely on social media, the company issued statements opposing the FCC action written with a typewriter in Morse code.”
“AT&T raised the prospect of court challenges that would block the FCC from enforcing the rules. ‘We once again face the uncertainty of litigation, and the very real potential of having to start over — again — in the future,’ said Jim Cicconi, AT&T’s senior executive vice president external and legislative affairs, in a statement. The FCC’s previous net neutrality rules were thrown out by a federal court last year,'” Yu and Snider report. “Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, tweeting to his followers that he ‘had to be there,’ stood after the vote and applauded the commissioners. ‘This is a victory for the people,’ he told Bloomberg TV, echoing similar sentiments expressed in flurries of e-mails by consumer groups and technology companies.”
‘Along with potential lawsuits, the cable industry will not abandon its efforts to push Congress for a new law that would override the FCC’s action,” Yu and Snider report. “Draft legislation by some Republicans seeks to keep some net neutrality protection, such as banning blocking of content, but stops short of subjecting ISPs to treat-them-like-utilities regulations.”
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Related article:
U.S. FCC OKs so-called ‘net neutrality’ rules on party-line vote – February 26, 2015