FCC approves new net neutrality rules

The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to implement new net neutrality rules designed to make sure Internet service providers treat all legal content equally.

"The Internet is too important to allow broadband providers to make the rules," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told a crowd of technology companies and consumer groups. "So today, after a decade of debate in an open, robust year-long process, we finally have legally sustainable rules to ensure that the Internet stays fast, fair and open."

USA Today reports the vote effectively regulates the Web as a public utility. Internet service providers would be prohibited from discriminating against content by blocking or slowing transmission speeds and seeking payments in exchange for faster lanes of their Internet networks, a practice called paid prioritization.

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