Brand X

Does a pro-Title II decision hinge on Brand X?  It might!  In the 2005 case, NCTA et al. v. Brand X Internet Services et al., the Supreme Court ruled that the FCC has the authority, under the 1996 Telecom Act, to decide if broadband is an information or telecommunications service.  At the time, the FCC ruled that broadband was an information service.  Ten years later, in its February 2015 Open Internet Ruling, the FCC changed its position.

 

And, so, what a difference a year and a politically-influenced change of heart makes. 

In Verizon v. FCC (2014), the plaintiffs were victorious in shooting down efforts to impose the conduct rules against blocking and unreasonable discrimination because the Court determined that the Commission could not impose public-utility regulation on an information service. 

On Friday, the issue of net neutrality was once again front-and-center.  This time it was in Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia.  The three-judge panel heard arguments for and against the FCC’s decision to reclassify broadband internet service (fixed and mobile) as a common carrier under Title II of the Communications Act and therefore subject to utility-type regulation. 

It is likely that the Court will affirms the FCC’s authority to classify broadband as it sees fit.  Regulation will follow as the Commission believes that “broadband providers represent a threat to Internet openness and could act in ways that would ultimately inhibit the speed and extent of future broadband deployment.” (Verizon v. FCC, 2014)