Despite iron-clad evidence of wrongdoing and a bipartisan majority vote at the Federal Communications Commission, Comcast is appealing the FCC’s landmark order to stop the company from blocking Internet content.

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

The Aug. 1 order requires Comcast to stop its ongoing practice of blocking Internet traffic by the end of the year and disclose all past and future “network management” practices.

The Communications Act has long established the FCC’s legal authority to promote competition, consumer choice and diverse information across all communications platforms. In 2005, the FCC unanimously adopted an “Internet Policy Statement” explicitly guaranteeing Internet users the right to access the lawful content, applications and services of their choice.

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.” In response, Free Press and Public Knowledge filed a complaint, triggering the first test case of the FCC’s policy statement. This order concludes the FCC’s exhaustive months-long investigation, which included two public hearings at Harvard and Stanford universities and more than 50,000 public comments.

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

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

Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press and author of the complaint, says, “The future of the Internet is too important to tie up in legal limbo. Congress should act now to pass Net Neutrality laws that clear up any uncertainty once and for all.”

Comcast and their lawyers are going to 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 we’ll be fighting back, defending the FCC ruling in court.