On Aug. 1, the public won a historic victory for an open Internet. In a precedent-setting decision, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that Comcast must stop blocking Internet content.

It’s the first time the FCC has gone to such lengths to assert users’ right to an open Internet. And it sends a warning shot across the bow of other major ISPs that are flirting with the idea of blocking, filtering or degrading content, or favoring certain Web sites and services over others.

Last fall, the Associated Press caught Comcast secretly blocking users’ legal peer-to-peer traffic, calling the company’s practice the “most drastic example yet of data discrimination.” The FCC’s investigation, launched after Free Press filed a complaint with the agency, included two public hearings at Harvard and Stanford universities — and more than 25,000 public comments.

Ben Scott, Free Press policy director, said the FCC’s order is a major milestone in the fight to safeguard Net Neutrality — the longstanding principle that forbids Internet service providers from discriminating against online content.

“For years, the FCC declared that it would take action against any Internet service provider caught violating the online rights guaranteed by the agency,” Scott said. “The commission has delivered on that promise.”

Despite iron-clad evidence of wrongdoing and a bipartisan majority vote at the FCC, Comcast is appealing the agency’s enforcement order.

The company is hoping the courts will overturn the FCC’s decision. Comcast’s actions come as no surprise — they lied and pulled last-minute stunts to try to sway the FCC vote in their favor; now, they’re trying to slip out of being held accountable.

The ruling against Comcast is a landmark victory in the fight for an open Internet. Free Press and our allies defied every ounce of conventional wisdom in Washington by proving that activists, bloggers, consumer advocates and everyday people could join forces to defeat a major corporation.

But Comcast’s lawsuit clearly demon-strates the Internet is still at risk. Without laws that codify Net Neutrality, ISPs can try to evade the FCC.

Comcast and its lawyers will spend whatever it takes to overturn the FCC’s precedent-setting ruling that Internet gatekeepers have no right to block users’ access to the free and open Internet. But Free Press will be fighting back in Congress, at the FCC, and in the courts to protect the free and open Internet.