Net neutrality rules passed by the government last week are good news for advocates of free speech, customers interested in new services offered by start-up websites and fans of the new season of “ House of Cards” who don't want to overpay for fast download speeds of the Netflix show.

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted 3-2 along party lines to pass net neutrality rules, which forbid service providers from blocking or slowing the traffic of their rivals or from taking unfair advantage of their large market share to charge websites extra for priority traffic speeds.

The aim of these rules is to ensure “that no one – whether government or corporate - should control free, open access to the Internet,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said during the vote last week.

The net neutrality rules prevent a large Internet service provider like Comcast or Verizon from deciding whether to allow faster downloads of certain sites, protecting entrepreneurs and small websites trying to compete with large companies, and creating​​​​​​​​​ more options for consumers searching for new services online.

Conduct banned by the rules includes​ paid prioritization​, which could threaten smaller websites that could not afford to pay Internet providers if they decided to sell a premium “fast lane” service.

Paid prioritization would endanger the tech start-up economy and make it harder for people to offer new kinds of affordable, creative products, Chad Dickerson, CEO of online craft marketplace Etsy told the FCC on Thursday. People sell homemade clothes and other goods on Etsy, and 18 percent support themselves full-time using the site, thanks in part to the low fees for marketing on the service, Dickerson said. Etsy’s success would not have been possible if Internet service providers had the power to choose to prioritize the speeds of rival shopping sites, he added.

“We could not afford to pay for priority access to consumers,” Dickerson told the FCC during the meeting. “We would be forced to raise our fees or leave our sellers in slow lanes, hurting the micro-businesses who depend on our platform.”

The new rules are a particular boon for fans of online video sites like Netflix, which have faced pressure from their rival Comcast. The massive broadband service provider owns NBCUniversal and operates Xfinity online video. Veena Sud, executive producer of “The Killing,” testified to the commission about how the rules will give online video sites the chance to compete by offering new types of shows not found on large cable networks. Netflix, for example, picked up her TV show when it was canceled on the AMC network.

Netflix last year expressed concerns that Comcast was pressuring the company to pay more for Internet connections to broadband subscribers and threatening to slow the download speeds of shows like “House of Cards” if they did not.

The creation of “fast lanes” would also likely mean companies would pass those new Internet expenses on to their customers. Net neutrality rules preventing Internet providers from charging for “fast lanes” are good for users of any services reliant on downloads, including video gaming networks like Xbox, or online chat services like Skype, says John Bergmayer, senior staff attorney at consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge.

“It becomes anti-competitive if they are charging websites for access to customers because the service provider has a large market share, as opposed to charging for real costs for managing the connection,” he says.

But Republicans and telecoms like AT&T, which are not fans of the orders, argue that they open the door to excessive regulation by the FCC that could break the Internet. These fears are based in part because the FCC wrote the rules drawing on Title II of the Communications Act, which reclassifies Internet providers as common carriers like phone companies, giving the commission greater authority over broadband services.

The net neutrality rules won’t be made public until they are filed in the federal register at the end of April, so it remains unclear to what extent those fears are justified.

Republicans, including FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai have said the powers the commission invoked may enable regulation of prices set by Internet service providers, which would in turn damage the telecom business. Wheeler said the commission has exercised forbearance using Title II, meaning that some of the authority ​exercised over phone companies won’t be applied to the net neutrality rules – including rate regulation.

But former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell has longer term concerns about the rules. Advocacy groups may press for more Internet regulation, including preventing service providers from placing limits on how much data their customers can download, which could clog networks and lower incentives for investment in telecommunications, says McDowell, a Republican who is now a partner at the law firm of Wiley Rein.

“I don’t see how Tom Wheeler leaves office without addressing the issue of economic regulation of the Internet,” McDowell says. “I can see a lot of groups pressuring the FCC to expand its regulation of the Internet.”

More immediately, the net neutrality ruled are almost certain to face a legal challenge, with AT&T already having hinted that it will file a lawsuit because they view the regulation as an overreach of the FCC’s power. Verizon Communications was successful in a federal appeals court last year when it sued to strike down the previous rules. Wheeler explained that the court did not oppose the spirit of the net neutrality order, merely the way the old rules were written. He said he invoked Title II in crafting the new regulations in order to insulate them from a court challenge.​​​​​​​​​

Large providers that oppose the use of Title II may support a lawsuit, including Verizon and Comcast. But Sprint, T-Mobile and Google Fiber have supported the net neutrality rules, in contrast with their larger telecom competitors, arguing that they will not deter investment.

The net neutrality rules will likely survive a lawsuit because Title II is “a tested legal authority,” says Robert Cooper, a partner at the law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner.

“It recognizes what broadband Internet access service has become today, which is the principle and most important communications link,” says Cooper, who practices antitrust and telecom law.

Republicans in Congress have also vowed to overturn the new rules through legislation. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., has sought to avoid FCC regulation by proposing a bill he claims would uphold some principles of net neutrality, including that Internet service providers should not block or slow down traffic.

During a hearing of his committee last week, Upton said the FCC vote “is just the beginning” and “means an inevitable return to the courts for net neutrality rules, which will lead to more years of uncertainty for consumers and providers.”

The bill is unlikely to gain enough votes to override the executive veto of President Barack Obama, who in November called on the FCC to pass net neutrality rules that invoke Title II.

Despite Republican concerns about government oversight of the Internet, the net neutrality rules found broad support by those who created the global network. Supporters of the FCC rules include Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.