WASHINGTON – Open-Internet rules adopted last year by the Federal Communications Commission are to take effect Nov. 20, the agency said in a filing with the Federal Register Thursday.
The so-called net-neutrality rules, adopted Dec. 21 on a 3-2 Democrat-led party-line vote, bar Internet-service providers including Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. from blocking or slowing Web content sent to homes and businesses. Putting the rules into place fulfilled a campaign promise by President Barack Obama.
Verizon intends to file a lawsuit seeking to overturn the regulations after they become effective and hasn’t set a date for doing so, Ed McFadden, a company spokesman, said in an interview. Verizon’s earlier lawsuit over the rules was dismissed April 4 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after the FCC argued the challenge was premature.
Supporters of the regulations say they are needed to prevent abuses, and service providers said the rules aren’t necessary.
