After massive lobbying, and four million public comments, the Federal Communications Commission has endorsed "net neutrality." That means your cable or telephone company has to treat all Internet traffic the same way. It can't deliver some content at a higher speed for a higher price. Content providers — from Netflix and Facebook to teenage bloggers — are big winners. Comcast and Verizon are among the losers.
Speaking of yesterday's ruling, which reclassified ISP's for regulation as public utilities, Commission Chair Tom Wheeler called the Internet, "the most powerful and pervasive platform on the planet" simply too important to be left without rules and without a referee on the field." But the FCC was divided between three Democrats and two Republicans, and the battles are far from over in the courts and in Congress.