Silicon Valley Media Law Blog

The FCC issued an order repealing the requirement that telephone companies provide open access to their wireline (DSL) broadband Internet networks. This follows the Supreme Court's ruling in the BrandX case that cable companies are not required to provide such access to competing ISPs such as Earthlink.

At the same time, the FCC adopted a policy statement favoring network neutrality:

“to ensure that broadband networks are widely deployed, open, affordable, and accessible to all consumers, the Commission adopts the following principles:

To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to:

(i) access the lawful Internet content of their choice.
(ii) run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.
(iii) connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network; and
(iv) competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers."

As Congress looks to telecom reform for the Internet era, we will have to see whether these principles are realized, or whether the cable and phone companies will control what consumers receive as Internet offerings and redefine the Internet from a common carriage, open platform to a cable framework with the facilities owner as content gatekeeper.

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