Internet freedom restored with FCC reinstatement of net neutrality protections

As expected, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has taken steps to restore its regulations aimed at ensuring a national standard for broadband reliability, security and consumer protection.

Adopted by the Commission in late April and published in early May, a declaratory judgment titled “To Protect and Secure the Open Internet Restoring Internet Freedom” restores the net neutrality rules originally approved by the Commission in 2005. Later in the years, the FCC’s authority to implement such rules was repeatedly challenged in federal courts, ultimately leading to the policy being withdrawn in 2018.

The more than 700-page declaratory judgment classifies Broadband Internet Access Service (BIAS) as a telecommunications service, thereby placing the regulation of such services under the purview of the FCC under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. In addition, the accompanying Report and Regulation issued by the Commission details the detailed rules for the “open Internet” and the process for enforcing these rules.

Read the FCC’s declaratory ruling on net neutrality.