Background
In 1996, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which regulated telecommunications services. Providers of telecommunication services were subject to taxes and forced to sell access to their networks to the public.
The Telecommunications Act also defined information services as "the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications, and includes electronic publishing." These information services are not subject to the same taxes and regulations as telecommunications services.
Small Internet service providers in the era of dial-up service had equal access to home users because the first services were provided over Plain old telephone services (POTS) which were regulated as common carriers. Cable television operators then started to use the coaxial cables to provide high speed access. Small ISPs like Brand X wanted to use the coaxial cables, owned by private cable companies but using public rights of way, in a manner like common carriers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) refused, and Brand X subsequently sued. The FCC won in the three judge panel in the Ninth Circuit but then lost en banc.
This case was important in the battle over network neutrality in the United States.
Read more about this topic: National Cable & Telecommunications Association V. Brand X Internet Services
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