Two weeks after its landmark net neutrality vote, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has published its finalized Open Internet rules on its website Thursday, which reportedly crashed soon after due to traffic.
In a party-line vote, the FCC passed rules February 26 that prohibit internet providers from throttling or blocking customers’ access, and bans paid prioritization also known as fast lanes. The rules also reclassified the internet as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act, and was regarded as an important victory for net neutrality supporters worried that without the rules, broadband providers would hurt consumers and startups through fast lanes that favored bigger, more successful services that could pay for faster service.
Previously kept under wraps, the FCC published the net neutrality rules in their entirety — nearly 400 pages — complete with the dissenting opinions of the agency’s two Republican commissioners.
At the time of the vote, it wasn’t clear how far the net neutrality rules went and whether the FCC would stringently regulate ISPs as it had telephone companies in the past. In the coming days and weeks, advocates and opponents of the rules will be combing through them and gearing up for the next battle as the rules are expected to be challenged in the federal courts, Congress and even by future FCC commissioners. Verizon has previously announced plans to sue the FCC if it finalized the net neutrality rules.