Verizon loses first round in net neutrality fight

US TELECOM Verizon has lost the first round in its fight against the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over net neutrality.

Verizon had launched a court challenge against the FCC, claiming that it exceeded its authority by prohibiting ISPs from blocking access to certain websites. But the US federal Court of Appeals has denied Verizon's request to rig the contest in its favour, Reuters reports, by making its case to the same judges that ruled against the FCC last year.

That was when the court ruled that the FCC did not have the authority to stop Comcast from blocking traffic on its broadband network that took up valuable bandwidth.

Verizon and Metro PCS had filed legal challenges against the FCC in January. The proposed FCC rules prohibit Internet service providers (ISPs) from discriminating against online services in favour of their own or those of their paying customers.

Obviously companies like Google and Skype are on the side of the FCC, but the ISPs are not willing to back down without a fight on any rules that might prevent them from raking in more profits. The net neutrality battle in the US will definitely go the full 12 rounds. µ