The US government on Thursday banned internet service providers (ISPs) from meddling in the speeds their customers receive when browsing the web and downloading files, restoring tough rules rescinded during the Trump administration and setting the state for a major legal battle with the broadband industry, CNN reported.

The net neutrality regulations adopted Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission prohibit providers such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon from selectively speeding up, slowing down or blocking users’ internet traffic. They largely reflect rules passed by a prior FCC in 2015 and unwound in 2017.

The latest rules show how, with a 3-2 Democratic majority, the FCC is moving to reassert its authority over an industry that powers the modern digital economy touching everything from education to health care and enabling advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence.

With Thursday’s party-line vote, the FCC redefined internet service as similar to legacy telephone lines, a sweeping move that comes with greater regulatory power over the broadband industry. And the FCC said it would step in to override state or local policies that conflict with the federal net neutrality rule.

ArsTechnica reported the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to impose net neutrality rules today, restoring the common-carrier regulatory framework enforced during the Obama era and then abandoned while Trump was president.

The rules prohibit internet service providers from blocking and throttling lawful content and ban paid prioritization. Cable and telecom companies plan to fight the rules in court, but they lost a similar battle during the Obama era when judges upheld FCC’s ability to regulate ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act.

“Consumers have made it clear to us they do not want their broadband provider cutting sweetheart deals, with fast lanes for some services and slow lanes for others,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said at today’s meeting. “They do not want their providers engaging in blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. And if they have problems, they expect the nation’s expert authority on communications to be able to respond. Because we put national rules back on the books, we fix that today.”

TechCrunch reported the Federal Communications Commission made its official vote Thursday to reinstate net neutrality,  which bars broadband providers from slowing or even blocking traffic to some sites while improving access to others that pay extra fees. 

With some changes and protections, passing the order titled Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet resorts rules passed back during the Obama administration in 2015 and rolled back in 2017, after Donald Trump was elected president.

Rosenworcel summed it up best: “I think in a modern digital economy we should have a national net neutrality policy and make clear the nation’s expert on communications has the ability to act when it comes to broadband.”

In my opinion, whether or not the US gets to enjoy net neutrality depends largely upon if the FCC has more Democrats or more Republicans. Right now, it appears that net neutrality is going to stick around.