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Open Internet advocates celebrated a U.S. federal appeal court’s decision to uphold net neutrality rules, predicting the ruling could make waves north of the border when Canada’s Internet watchdog reviews its own rules this fall.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled Tuesday that broadband providers must treat all content equally instead of creating “fast lanes” for content creators willing to pay extra. The decision is a major blow to carriers such as Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. and a massive win for content providers such as Netflix Inc. and Google Inc.

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“It’s a big win for Americans, but sends a really strong signal to us up here in Canada as we’re reviewing our net neutrality rules,” said David Christopher of Vancouver-based open Internet advocacy group OpenMedia. “I imagine the CRTC will be looking at this ruling very closely.”

While the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission passed net neutrality rules in 2009 that prevent providers from blocking or slowing down lawful Internet traffic in most cases, it announced this spring it will review the rules as part of a public hearing on new pricing tactics by certain providers.