FCC: Court Decision 'Invalidates' Prior Approach To Preserving Open Internet

A Federal Communications Commission spokeswoman said that the agency still has the power to promote an open Internet, and will use that power, but also recognized that a D.C. court decision striking down a previous commission's order in the BitTorrent case "invalidated the prior Commission's approach to preserving an open Internet."

"The FCC is firmly committed to promoting an open Internet and to policies that will bring the enormous benefits of broadband to all Americans," said FCC spokeswoman Jen Howard in a statement. "It will rest these policies -- all of which will be designed to foster innovation and investment while protecting and empowering consumers -- on a solid legal foundation."

That solid legal foundation may be reclassifying Iat least some portion of Internet service as a Title II communications service subject to mandatory access regs, rather than the more lightly regulated information service category the FCC put it in.

"Today's court decision invalidated the prior Commission's approach to preserving an open Internet," Howard conceded. "But the Court in no way disagreed with the importance of preserving a free and open Internet; nor did it close the door to other methods for achieving this important end."

The court did say that it was not ruling that the FCC had no power over ISPs, but that it had not justified using ancillary authority rather that directly delegated authority from Congress.