Eye On Freedom – Keeping a watchful eye on the preservation of our liberty at home and freedom around the world

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission exceeded its authority when it sanctioned Comcast Corp. in 2008 for deliberately slowing Internet traffic for some users.

The unanimous decision is a blow to the FCC, which argued it had authority to police Internet providers and prevent them from blocking or slowing subscribers’ Internet traffic. The victory is likely to spark efforts by the FCC and Congress to impose new rules on Comcast and other Internet providers. Major Internet providers will likely oppose such moves, particularly any effort by the FCC to apply rules to their Web services that were originally enacted to promote more competition in the land-line phone industry.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the FCC’s demand, approved by a 3-2 vote, that Comcast stop slowing Web traffic. The court ruled that Congress had not given the FCC the power to regulate an Internet service provider’s network-management practices.

The decision is a win for Comcast in a case that started when subscribers complained that the cable and Internet giant had slowed Web traffic for some customers who were downloading large files using peer-to-peer file-sharing services like BitTorrent. Comcast stopped the practice but went ahead with its challenge of the FCC’s decision.

Tuesday’s appeals court ruling could be a mixed blessing for Comcast and other Internet providers. President Obama and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski have both supported the idea of “net neutrality” rules, which say that all legal Internet traffic should be treated equally by Internet providers.

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