The central arguments will be that the FCC's action was arbitrary and capricious and abuse of their discretion by reversing net neutrality rules. Further, the FCC misinterpreted and disregarded critical evidence on industry practices, and their decision will harm consumers and businesses. In addition, the procedures followed by the FCC violated the Administrative Procedures Act.
Over the next 10 days, lawsuits will be filed by several net neutrality advocacy groups. Those that have filed or pledged to do so include Free Press, Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute. In addition, 22 states and the District of Columbia have refiled their lawsuits against the FCC to restore its original rules. Mozilla and Vimeo have also filed suit to protect net neutrality.
Net Neutrality in States and Local Communities
The campaign for net neutrality is also working at the state and local level. In more than half of the states, net neutrality protections are moving forward.
In California, Hawaii, New York, Montana and Vermont legislation is in the works that would preserve internet neutrality. The FCC's new rule says states are not allowed to pass their own net neutrality laws, but many are trying to do so with various legal workarounds. It is likely these state and local actions will require litigation to be put into place.
Governors are also working to protect net neutrality. The first governor to act was Montana's Steve Bullock. Now governors in Vermont, Hawaii, New Jersey and New York have signed executive orders requiring their states to only do business with internet providers that abide by net neutrality rules.
And there is activity at the community level. A new map from Community Networks shows that more communities than ever are building their own broadband networks to end big telecom's monopoly. They range from large networks in Chattanooga, Tennessee to small town networks connecting a few local businesses. The map includes more than 750 communities as of January 2018, including 55 publicly-owned municipal networks serving 108 communities, 76 communities with publicly-owned cable networks reaching most or all of the community, and 258 communities served by rural electric cooperatives, among others. Nineteen states have barriers in place that discourage or prevent local communities from creating publicly-owned local networks.
People Will Ensure the Internet Serves Us All Equally
The paths we are on in the courts, Congress and the states are challenging, but every step this campaign takes builds the political power of the Internet equality movement. The Internet movement is never going to give up on its demand for net neutrality, as well as related issues of equal access to high-quality broadband for all, no matter your level of wealth or income.
We need to build an Internet for the 21st Century. The reign of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will be seen as an era of regression. In the end, we will strive for the country to recognize access to high-quality Internet is a human right and a public good. Pai's backward steps will be used to launch us into an even stronger future where we create a public broadband system that serves people, not corporate profits. Join our Internet campaign Protect Our Internet and take action today at Battle for the Net.
As we discussed in our radio show with two top experts on Internet issues, the failure to treat the Internet as a common carrier violates legal principles going back before the founding of the United States. The ideas that the mail was a common carrier or that public transit treated everyone equally are the root concepts of net neutrality. We need to continue to build power to ensure Internet access is seen as a human right and a tool of free speech with equal access for all.
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