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In a bit of good news for the Obama administration (and most Americans), the U.S. D.C Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the FCC's Open Internet Order rules:
High-speed internet service can be defined as a utility, a federal court has ruled, a decision clearing the way for more rigorous policing of broadband providers and greater protections for web users.
The court's decision upholds the F.C.C. on the declaration of broadband as a utility, the most significant aspect of the rules. That has broad-reaching implications for web and telecommunications companies and signals a shift in the government's view of broadband as a service that should be equally accessible to all Americans, rather than a luxury that does not need close government supervision.
The court's opinion can be found here.
takyon: Also at Tom's Hardware. Alternate link for the Appeals Court decision.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 14 2016, @09:58PM
A decade ago these assholes were arguing exactly the opposite of what they are arguing today.
Back then ISPs were regulated as utilities, but the telcos lobbied the FCC to switch them over to being "information services." It went all the way to the supreme court [zdnet.com] which ruled that it was the FCC's job to determine which regulatory scheme should be applied. The telcos celebrated because the FCC picked the scheme they wanted. Now that the FCC has returned to sanity, they are trying to argue that it is not that FCC's job to make that decision. Fuckers.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Tork on Tuesday June 14 2016, @10:15PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 14 2016, @10:18PM
And then big data became worth actual $$
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 14 2016, @10:30PM
> If memory serves
No. The telcos wanted to be "information services" so they would not be required to lease their lines to other ISPs. That ruling killed off all ISPs that did not directly own their cable plants. Companies like Mindspring and Earthlink and a thousand regional mom&pop ISPs that relied on the telcos being required to sell them access to the phone lines were cut off from 99.9% of customers. It was the end of competition in the ISP business.