Will net neutrality ruling make Web like cable TV? Court ruling risks limiting online access, critics say

Internet service providers are no longer required to treat all kinds of Web activity equally, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in a decision that could dramatically reshape online access.

The decision overturns key parts of the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality regulations, which barred Internet providers from restricting speeds or even blocking visits to different sites. Analysts say the ruling could allow Internet providers to slow down sites like bandwidth-heavy Netflix or Google and force them - or their visitors - to pay for faster access.

Verizon, which brought the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, argued that because it built its network, it has the right to manage its costs and services as it pleases.

Judges said although the FCC has oversight of how Internet providers manage traffic, its regulations were overreaching considering the agency classified broadband providers as "information services" companies rather than telecom companies, which "exempts them from treatment as common carriers."

The tech world blasted the ruling, saying it could turn the free-for-all that is the Internet into an industry more akin to cable television.

'Alarming' decision

"The D.C. Circuit's decision is alarming for all Internet users," said Harvey Anderson, senior vice president of legal affairs for browser company Mozilla. "Thanks to a legal technicality, essential protections for user choice and online innovation are gone."

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said his agency is mulling a Supreme Court appeal, and insisted the FCC will not "abandon its responsibility to oversee that broadband networks operate in the public interest."

"(The FCC) will not disregard the possibility that exercises of economic power or of ideological preference by dominant network firms will diminish the value of the Internet to some or all segments of our society," he wrote in a blog post.

The ruling is a major defeat for the Silicon Valley lobby, which sought to convince Washington that Web access should remain unconstrained by Internet providers.

But the changes could affect far more than the tech world. Verizon, Comcast and a handful of other broadband providers control the vast majority of Internet access nationwide, and that lack of competition has sparked concern across a variety of industries.

Control concerns

"Now that the Internet has become the primary mechanism for delivering information, services and applications to the general public, it is especially important that commercial Internet service providers are not able to control or manipulate the content of these communications," said Barbara Stripling, president of the American Library Association.

Rashad Robinson, executive director of the African American advocacy group ColorOf Change.org, fears that large private companies may start to squeeze out public discourse online.

"Our communities rely on the Internet to speak without a corporate filter, to access information and connect to the world, and to be able to organize and hold public officials and corporations accountable."

Verizon insists the ruling won't result in any changes to Internet access.

"Verizon has been and remains committed to the open Internet which provides consumers with competitive choices and unblocked access to lawful websites and content when, where and how they want," a spokesman said in a statement. "This will not change in light of the court's decision."