<P> The FCC initially exempted "information services" such as broadband Internet access from regulation under Title II . The FCC held that information services were distinct from telecommunications services that are subject to common carrier regulation . </P> <P> However, Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 required the FCC to help accelerate deployment of "advanced telecommunications capability" which included high - quality voice, data, graphics, and video, and to regularly assess its availability . In August 2015, the FCC said that nearly 55 million Americans did not have access to broadband capable of delivering high - quality voice, data, graphics and video offerings . </P> <P> On February 26, 2015, the FCC reclassified broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service, thus subjecting it to Title II regulation, although several exemptions were also created . The reclassification was done in order to give the FCC a legal basis for imposing net neutrality rules (see below), after earlier attempts to impose such rules on an "information service" had been overturned in court . </P> <P> In 2005, the FCC formally established the following principles: To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice; Consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement; Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network; Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers . However, broadband providers were permitted to engage in "reasonable network management ." </P>

When did the fcc start regulating the internet