Comcast

U.S. judges questioned the FCC's authority to punish Comcast Corp for blocking online file-sharing services on Friday in a case that could wind up curbing the regulators' campaign for a free and open Internet.

A three-judge panel appeared unsatisfied with Federal Communications Commission arguments and was probing whether the FCC acted based on established rules or on direct authority from Congress on broadband network management issues.

Internet giants Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and a slew of other high-profile tech companies weighed in on new rules that are currently being written to keep the Internet open.

The CEOs of of those companies, along with some telecommunications and media firms, such as EchoStar and XO Communications, sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski on Monday supporting his efforts to create official regulation that protects Net Neutrality.

 With Democrats in charge in Washington, supporters of so-called "net neutrality" rules seem poised to finally push through requirements that high-speed Internet providers give equal treatment to all data flowing over their networks.