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The FCC will try to bring net neutrality back from the dead in May

Published Apr 23rd, 2014 2:15PM EDT
FCC Net Neutrality Rules

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As it promised to do earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission is planning to introduce new net neutrality rules that it will unveil next month. Re/code reports that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said on Wednesday that the commission would have new draft rules ready for its May 15th meeting, which means that we’ll get our first look at them in around three weeks. 

Re/code says that Wheeler’s new rules will be very similar to the rules that a court struck down earlier this year while adding that the chairman will try to “justify them under a different part of the law.” Net neutrality proponents have already slammed this strategy and said that it’s just as likely to get show down in court as the previous rules.

The FCC’s original net neutrality restrictions were shot down by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia earlier this year. The ruling was a major victory for telecom and cable companies who have fought all net neutrality restrictions vociferously for years, although the court did say that the FCC did have the right to regulate Internet service providers under a provision in the law that gives it the power to oversee the deployment of broadband lines.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.