FCC Votes to Adopt Order Preserving “Net Neutrality”

On February 26, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) voted by a 3-2 margin to adopt the FCC’s Open Internet Order, which sets rules forbidding Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) from: (i) blocking legal content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices, (ii) throttling lawful Internet traffic on the basis of content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices, or (iii) allowing paid prioritization that favors some lawful Internet traffic over other lawful traffic in exchange for consideration of any kind (i.e. no “fast lanes”). The rules preserve the concept of “net neutrality”, which is the idea that ISPs should be required to provide neutral and open access to all Internet users, rather than manage different types of Internet traffic in different ways and for different rates.