The U.S. federal appeals court has opened a way for broadband providers to charge for content that are downloaded at faster speeds. This means that there is no longer equal treatment for Internet traffic. By doing so, the appeals court has thrown aside a huge part of the net neutrality rule the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) put in place back in 2010. This move could throw the Intenet into turmoil, along with making it more expensive to visit some websites such as YouTube, Netflix or Facebook.
The appeals court threw out the FCC rule, Tuesday, that stopped Internet Service Providers from outright blocking traffic.
"A broadband provider like Comcast might limit its end-user subscribers' ability to access The New York Times website if it wanted to spike traffic to its own news website," the court ruled.
Furthermore, the appeals court stated that the FCC does not have the legal basis to create its own policy. "Because the Commission has failed to establish that the anti-discrimination and anti-blocking rules do not impose per se common carrier obligations, we vacate those portions of the Open Internet Order," the court noted.
This move by the appeals court could be a boon for Verizon Communications, as the company has been fighting against the FCC's Net neutrality rules for some time. However, in a recent blog post, the company stressed that it has no plans to change how things are in terms of the open Internet.
"One thing is for sure: Today's decision will not change consumers' ability to access and use the Internet as they do now," wrote Randall Milch, Verizon's general counsel and executive vice president. "Verizon has been and remains committed to the open Internet that provides consumers with competitive choices and unblocked access to lawful websites and content when, where, and how they want."
In all this disaster, there's a little bit of good news. Two of the three judges suggest the FCC might have some room to revise its rules, but it must be done with certain modifications. One possible modification is to classify Internet broadband as a telecommunication service similar to the regular telephone service.
As of now, consumers in the U.S are at the mercy of their providers, because, at any time, they could be forced to pay extra to visit their favorite websites, and that mean the death of the open internet.
