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AT&T Joins Industry Groups in Suits Against FCC

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AT&T Joins Industry Groups in Suits Against FCC

 
April 16, 2015

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  By Casey Houser, Contributing Writer
 


In what was a big win for Internet freedom activists this year, the Federal Communications Commission passed net neutrality legislation that seeks to ensure open access to the Internet through the reclassification of ISPs as public utility carriers under Title II of the Communications Act.


This has not made ISPs happy, and in their fight against the Open Internet Order legislation, some service providers and trade groups have filed suits against the FCC. The latest in the line of lawsuits, The Wall Street Journal and others have reported, comes from AT&T which reportedly has filed a suit similar to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, United States Telecom Association (News - Alert), and the Cellular Telephone Industries Association (CTIA), which all assert that the new rules go against other federal laws.

Ars Technica pointed out that the laws were not published into the Federal Register until April 13. Although some lawsuits came before that date from groups such as USTelecom (which is led by both AT&T (News - Alert) and Verizon, as well as other telecoms), the latest suit from AT&T marks the beginning of the countdown to when the rules will take effect. Companies reclassified under Title II will need to begin abiding by the new regulations within 60 days of its publishing. Similarly, telecoms may find it beneficial to begin filing suits within the first 10 days of publishing. USTelecom's initial suit in March was said to be completed because the group wanted to make sure the 10-day deadline did not begin when the rules were posted to the FCC website. They wanted to cover all bases.

Telecoms and trade groups are covering those bases, it appears, with all their effort. The new rules will force them, as public utility carriers, to treat all traffic on their systems as equal and will not be allowed to block or throttle connections, and they will not be allowed to create priority content in exchange for payments -- there will be no so-called “fast lanes.”

TMC (News - Alert)'s own Peter Bernstein admitted in February that he was surprised the sky did not fall and admitted that the proposal from Tom Wheeler (News - Alert), the chairman of the FCC, to his colleagues and the Obama administration was a pushing of a legislative thread through the needle that is government and open market.

As noted above, there are challenges to that threading of the needle. Verizon (News - Alert) was able to overturn similar legislation back in 2010, so there is some cause for concern that industry groups will have their way, once again, this time around. Until that time, though, many groups and individuals appear happy with the decision, and there are ideas within the legislation which give cause for celebration for those seeking a fairer Internet. The next 58 days will be interesting as the lawsuits progress and opinions continue to arise in the media.

 
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