Wheeler Believes Net Neutrality Will Survive Challenges

Tom Wheeler

After running the gauntlet of Congressional hearings over the last two weeks, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler remains confident that the net neutrality rules the agency passed last month will survive upcoming challenges in court.

According to USAToday, he made the prediction Friday speaking at the Ohio State University. Moritz College of Law as part of a "Future of Internet Regulation."

The open Internet, or net neutrality, rules give the Federal Communications Commission authority to prevent Internet service providers from blocking or throttling content users want to access and from seeking payments in exchange for faster delivery. a practice called "paid prioritization."

Last year, the federal court tossed out the FCC's previous open Internet rules with the argument that "you're trying to impose common carrier-like regulation without stepping up and saying, 'these are common carriers'," Wheeler said. "We have addressed that issue ... That gives me great confidence going forward that we will prevail."