Keeping the Net neutral

[Commentary] The battle over federal "net neutrality" rules will resume when a federal appeals court takes up the challenge filed by one of the country's largest Internet service providers: Verizon.

The phone company, which argues that the Federal Communication Commission's rules violate federal law and the Constitution, asserts that Internet service providers have a 1st Amendment right to edit or block the data flowing from websites to their customers. The company's stance is strange and self-contradictory, considering its long-standing efforts to be freed from liability for the "speech" that travels through its wires. The court should reject it out of hand. Verizon argues that "just as a newspaper is entitled to decide which content to publish and where, broadband providers may feature some content over others.” The Internet access that ISPs provide isn't an expression, it's a conduit. Nor is delivering data from a website to one's customers a form of legally protected speech.