WASHINGTON — Comcast Corp. is appealing an FCC ruling that the company is improperly blocking customers’ Web traffic, triggering a legal battle that could determine the extent of the government’s authority to regulate the Internet.
In a precedent-setting move, a divided Federal Communications Commission last month determined that the company is violating a federal policy that guarantees unfettered access to the Internet.
Comcast challenged the FCC decision Thursday in the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington.
The Comcast case arose from complaints by users of a type of file-sharing software often used to download large data files, usually video.
Tests by The Associated Press and others found that file-sharing transmissions were aborting prematurely. It was later discovered that the company was cutting off transfers without informing customers.
