Net neutrality fight continues –
Mozilla, others ask court to reverse ruling that let FCC kill net neutrality.
The FCC repeal was
Joining Mozilla in the appeal were online companies Etsy and Vimeo, industry lobby groupIncompas
, and the Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee, which represents business users of communications services. The case is known asMozilla v. FCC*******************************) Another appealwas filed today by several advocacy groups, namely New America’s Open Technology Institute, Free Press, Public Knowledge, the Center for Democracy & Technology, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates. Stillanother appealwas filed by the National Hispanic Media Coalition.Mozilla wrote in a
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Judge blasted FCC but upheld repeal
Circuit Judge Patricia Millett, one of the three judges who decided the case,
wrotethat the FCC’s justification for classifying broadband as an information service instead of a telecommunications service “is unhinged from the realities of modern broadband service.” But the FCC has broad authority to classify offerings as either information services or telecommunications, as long as it provides a reasonable justification for its decision, and judges said they had to leave the net neutrality repeal in place based on US law and Supreme Court precedent.
Obviously, consumer advocacy groups are arguing that judges did not have to give the FCC so much deference.
“Although the court came to the right conclusion on some key issues, such as the FCC’s lack of authority to preempt state net neutrality rules, in other ways it gave the FCC the benefit of the doubt too many times, “Public Knowledge Legal Director John Bergmayer wrote today. “While agencies should be given defense where appropriate, they do not have the authority to rewrite the law or come to illogical, results-driven conclusions.”The FCC argued that broadband is not telecommunications because Internet providers also offer DNS (Domain Name System) services and caching as part of the broadband package. Millett wrote that this interpretation “confuse [s] the leash for the dog,” but ruled in the FCC’s favor because of the Supreme Court’s (decision in the************* (Brand X) ***************************** case, which let the FCC classify cable broadband as an information service.Brand X“compels us to affirm as a reasonable option the agency’s reclassification of broadband as an information service based on its provision of Domain Name System (‘DNS’) and caching , “Millett wrote.
Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins agreed with Millett’s assessment. Senior Circuit Judge Stephen Williams did join Millett and Wilkins in this line of criticism, but he joined them in upholding the repeal. Williams wanted to uphold the other big portion of the FCC order, too, as he dissented from a 2-1 decision to vacate the FCC’s preemption of state laws.
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