Court throws out Biden FCC’s net neutrality rule – Boston Herald

By Michael Macagnone, CQ-Roll Call (TNS)

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned a Biden administration rule establishing so-called net neutrality for internet providers following years of litigation over efforts to regulate internet speeds for different content online.

The ruling likely ends a long-running effort by the Biden and Obama administrations to change regulation of internet providers — requiring them to provide all internet traffic at the same speed and not discriminate against certain sites or services. A similar rule was initially put in place by the Federal Communications Commission during the Obama administration, reversed by Donald Trump in his first term then reinstated by President Joe Biden. Now it faces an eleventh-hour courtroom loss combined with a second Trump administration likely to pull the rule entirely.

Thursday’s ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit held that internet service should be considered an “information service” — not a “telecommunications service,” which is treated as a common carrier — and that the FCC’s approach was “inconsistent with the plain language” of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Following the court loss, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel called on Congress to act on legislation to put net neutrality in federal law.

“Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair,” the statement said. “With this decision it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law.”

However, that is unlikely during the incoming Trump administration. Trump has named Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who has opposed net neutrality rules, as his preferred chair of the agency.