The FCC today voted 3-2 along party lines to implement new regulations over broadband services.
The rules seek to reclassify broadband services as common carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, which will put them under stricter government oversight. The FCC’s two Republican commissioners, Ajit Pai and Michael O’Reilly, opposed the vote.
Chairman Tom Wheeler and the two Democratic commissioners, Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn, voted in favor of the rules. The rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services on both wired and wireless networks.
Wheeler believes the rules will withstand the legal attacks that are sure to come from companies such as AT&T, which has already indicated it will sue. The agency fielded more than four million comments from Americans ahead of the vote.
