The Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Amazon, Google and Facebook, says it will intervene in support of lawsuits challenging the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom order. That was the Dec. 14 party-line vote, led by Republican Chairman Ajit Pai, to eliminate rules against blocking, throttling or paid prioritization of online access.
CCIA says that the reg rollback--the rules have not yet gone into effect--"would give a couple big internet service providers too much power over any US business or consumers that rely on internet access."
Ready, Set...Net Neutrality Rule Challenges Can Begin This Week
CCIA was responding to reports, including in B&C, that final order would be published Feb. 22, which triggers legal challenges.
“The FCC’s recent Order destroys rules that prevented online discrimination and protected both consumers and businesses," said CCIA President Ed Black. "The open internet has been a catalyst for strong economic growth and a key means for all sorts of businesses across the country to directly reach customers. The FCC is instead handing big, incumbent Internet Service Providers the power to discriminate and even charge extra fees for access to particular websites and services. This would be a big departure from how the Internet has operated for decades and how policymakers have operated to protect consumers’ interests and access to communications and information...We think there are strong grounds to appeal, and the tech industry will be part of the effort to overturn this Order.”
(Photo via Rock1997's Flickr. Image taken on Jan. 18, 2017 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 16x9 aspect ratio.)
