Welcome to net neutrality, whatever that means

The United States has entered a new era of net neutrality on the Internet — for now.  

A year and half after previous regulations were struck down — and in the midst of a new legal battle — the Federal Communications Commission’s strongest Internet rules ever went live Friday.

What that means depends on who you ask. Proponents say they will create clear standards to ensure Internet service providers like Comcast or AT&T allow equal access to all Internet traffic. But critics claim the rules could harm Internet deployment and give unprecedented — and unlawful — authority to the government.

“Starting Friday, there will be a referee on the field to keep the Internet fast, fair and open,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler boasted. “Blocking, throttling, pay-for-priority fast lanes and other efforts to come between consumers and the Internet are now things of the past.”

Consumers will likely not immediately feel the impact of the strong rules approved in a divided FCC vote in February. The rules are meant to codify a decades’ old Internet principle, and are targeted more at protecting against abuse going forward. Still, they already seem to be having an effect on deals between companies that transfer Internet traffic.

The regulations have set off a fierce debate in Washington and around the country, mainly because they reclassify Internet service under authority governing traditional telephones.

A number of Internet service providers like AT&T and telecom trade groups have filed lawsuits to kill the rules in the courts — a strategy that suffered an initial setback Thursday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to delay the rules until a final decision is handed down.

The FCC believes reclassification puts it on firm legal footing after its 2010 net neutrality rules were struck down by the same court. But critics have lamented exposing a dynamic service like the Internet to utility-style regulations.

The FCC made the move because it has much more authority to police that kind of service. Under the authority, the FCC developed rules to prohibit Internet service providers from blocking or slowing Internet traffic to any website or app. The rules will also bar providers from offering “fast lanes” to websites that are willing or able to pay.

Critics have largely accepted those bright-line rules, but have complained about reclassification and another “general conduct” standard that gives the FCC authority to review abuses not covered by its ban on blocking, throttling and paid prioritization. Critics have blasted it as vague and wonder to whom it will apply.

“I will let you guess who will get the first crack at answering these questions and many more,” Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly — an opponent of the rules — said in a speech last week, suggesting the parameters are unclear.

The FCC has also given itself the power to review deals that involve interconnection, a process that occurs when traffic is transferred from the backbone of the Internet to providers like Comcast, which pick it up and route it to customers’ homes.

The threat of FCC review seems to have already prompted providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast to strike deals with a number of backbone providers. Netflix, which takes up a large slice of Internet traffic, was a strong backer of the provision. The streaming company had lamented having to pay excessive sums of money to ensure its video passes smoothly over these points.

“Both Cogent and AT&T’s customers will benefit from this agreement for years to come,” AT&T said in a statement announcing one such deal reached just two days before the rules went into place.

While the rules take hold, there is no guarantee they we be around for long, as critics attack them from every angle.

Telecom companies and other Republicans were not discouraged by the appeals court ruling Thursday. They had lowered expectations against winning a stay, and point out it is not a final ruling on the merits.

“We are now ready to get to the merits of the case and are confident as ever that we will prevail,” said the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, which predicted an expedited ruling could be handed down by early next spring.

Some lawmakers in Congress have continued to push for a legislative deal, which would make the FCC’s controversial reclassification unnecessary. But there is no indication such a proposal could win support from President Obama and most Democrats, who pushed for the FCC’s expanded authority.

Some Republicans have pushed more partisan proposals, with a House Appropriations subcommittee advancing an FCC budget last week that contained cuts and a prohibition against implementing the net neutrality rules until a final court decision is handed down — something the court itself refused to do.

And even in their limited minority role, the Republican commissioners at the FCC have vowed to fight the rules from within.

“In the meantime, I will be vigilant in resisting any attempts by the agency to act as a referee enforcing rules known to none of the players and made up along the way,” FCC commissioner O’Rielly said.