In the wake of D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling against the FCC last year, it was generally thought that the FCC essentially had three basic options for moving on net neutrality: It could do nothing, it could wait for Congress to draft network neutrality legislation or it could decide to reclassify broadband services as telecommunications, rather than information services, to gain regulatory authority. Instead of enacting any of these options, however, the FCC cobbled together a watered-down net neutrality proposal that utilizes a good deal of the same legal justification that was shot down by last year's court appeals court ruling. In particular, that the FCC's reliance on direct authority from Section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act could prove problematic since it was a major piece of the FCC's failed defense last year.

in Network World's Data Center section.