Controversial federal rules that are designed to preserve the openness of the Internet are scheduled to take effect 11 months after the Federal Communications Commission voted to adopt them.
The so-called Net neutrality rules were published today in the Federal Register and will become effective on Nov. 20.
The Open Internet Order has met opposition from the likes of MetroPCS and Verizon Communications and is expected to face court challenges in Washington, D.C.
The Democrat-led FCC has asserted the rules were necessary to preserve open access to the Internet.
“The record and our economic analysis demonstrate … that openness of the Internet cannot be taken for granted, and that is faces real threats," the agency wrote in the order. “Indeed, we have seen broadband providers endanger the Internet’s openness by blocking or degrading content and applications without disclosing their practices to end users and edge providers" despite the FCC’s adoption of certain open Internet principles six years ago.
One of the new rules requires fixed and mobile broadband providers to reveal their network-management practices, performance and characteristics, and commercial terms of their broadband service. Some critics had asserted the disclosure requirements were too broad and burdensome and could subject broadband providers to untold litigation, and public documents reflect that FCC officials met over the summer with representatives of the communications industry to address such concerns.
The rules further prohibit fixed broadband providers like Comcast and Verizon from unreasonably discriminating in transmitting lawful network traffic. Fixed broadband providers also are barred from blocking lawful content, applications, services or non-harmful devices on their networks, and mobile broadband companies must not block lawful Web sites or applications that compete with their voice or video telephony services.
Earlier this year, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. dismissed challenges to the Open Internet Order, ruling that MetroPCS and Verizon Communications filed lawsuits prematurely. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit noted that the FCC’s rules would “be subject to judicial review upon publication in the Federal Register."
The FCC voted to adopt the rules on Dec. 21, 2010.
