Internet Providers Sue to Kill Net Neutrality
Internet Providers Sue to Kill Net Neutrality
The first legal shots have been fired in the battle over
Internet regulation.
By Brendan Sasso
March 23, 2015 Telecom companies filed a pair of lawsuits
Monday in an attempt to reverse the Federal Communications Commission's new net
neutrality rules.
The suits are expected to be the opening shots in a long
legal war against the controversial regulations.
USTelecom, which represents AT&T, Verizon, and other
companies, filed its lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit,
while Alamo Broadband, a small Texas-based wireless Internet provider, filed
its suit in the U.S. appeals court based in New Orleans.
"The focus of our legal appeal will be on the FCC's
decision to reclassify broadband Internet access service as a public utility
service after a decade of amazing innovation and investment under the FCC's
previous light-touch approach," Jon Banks, the senior vice president for
USTelecom, said in a statement. "As our industry has said many times, we
do not block or throttle traffic and FCC rules prohibiting blocking or
throttling will not be the focus of our appeal."
The suits claim the rules are outside the FCC's
authority, violate administrative law, and infringe on the companies'
constitutional rights.
An FCC spokesman said the lawsuits, which were filed
before the rules have even been formally published in the Federal Register, are
"premature and subject to dismissal."
In their court filings, the Internet providers said they
sued early in an "abundance of caution." They are worried that the
court might count the 10-day window for legal challenges beginning when the FCC
released the text of its decision, instead of when the rules are published in
the Federal Register. The FCC's decision includes both new regulations and a
"declaratory ruling," which the Internet providers said complicates
the issue of when to file the challenges.
The FCC's rules bar Internet providers from blocking
online content, selectively slowing down traffic, or creating any special
"fast lanes" for sites that pay more. The supporters argue the rules
will ensure that Internet providers can't act as "gatekeepers" and
restrict access to online information or services.
The FCC first enacted net neutrality rules in 2010, but
the D.C. Circuit struck them down early last year.
In an attempt to bolster the chances of the new rules in
court, the FCC classified the Internet as a "telecommunications
service," which grants the agency broad regulatory powers. But the
Internet providers fear the decision has turned them into public utilities and
will stifle their industry's growth.
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