This week’s net neutrality court decision is an...

This week’s net neutrality court decision is an “an open invitation to the FCC to clarify the importance of telecommunications networks to future economic growth and opportunity for all Americans,” said Computer & Communications Industry Association Vice President-Government Relations Cathy Sloan, writing in an op-ed for The Hill (http://bit.ly/1mczUoD). She said broadband access is now “the equivalent of basic telephone service for most Americans” when discussing the context of the case, which rests on the FCC classifying broadband as an information service rather than a Title II telecom service. The agency has kept regulations to a minimum where there’s sufficient competition, she said. “Where choices are few and market failure occurs, end users will look to the FCC for some basic protections that are only possible if the agency restores its own dormant statutory authority over access to critical underlying telecommunications networks,” Sloan said. “Otherwise Internet access providers will be free to block and discriminate at will, prioritizing only those information services that are both willing and able to pay for special connectivity."