Tom Wheeler Defeats the Broadband Industry: Net Neutrality Wins In Court (bloomberg.com)

Andrew M Harris and Todd Shields, reporting for Bloomberg: The Federal Communications Commission won a major appeals court ruling supporting its efforts to prevent broadband Internet service providers from favoring some types of web traffic over others. The Washington-based court Tuesday denied challenges to the federal government's so-called net neutrality regulations, which were backed by President Barack Obama. The ruling hands a victory to those who champion the notion of an open internet where service providers are prevented from offering speedier lanes to content providers willing to pay for them. It's a defeat for challengers including AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., which said the rule would discourage innovation and investment.FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said, "Today's ruling is a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire web, and it ensures the Internet remains a platform for unparalleled innovation, free expression and economic growth. After a decade of debate and legal battles, today's ruling affirms the Commission's ability to enforce the strongest possible internet protections -- both on fixed and mobile networks -- that will ensure the internet remains open, now and in the future."

Comments

Re:Innovation

[Shakrai]

I'm trying hard to think no of anything even marginally resembling an innovation which has come from Comcast - but I'm drawing a blank.

You got a cheap +5 there, because Comcast is an easy target, but let me play devil's advocate and give you two things they've done right:

1. They had IPv6 for residential customers years before any other major ISP.
2. They actually invest money in their infrastructure, even in markets where they face no meaningful competition, unlike the asshats at Time Warner Cable. TWC left my hometown to rot on the vine; we didn't see DOCSIS 3.0 until two or three years ago and to this day still have speed/capacity issues at peak times. Go 20 miles to our immediate South, into Comcast territory, and you can get three digit speeds (we top out at 50mbit/s) that are actually consistently delivered to you.