A broadband industry trade group today filed suit in an attempt to overturn the FCC's new net neutrality rules. US Telecom, which represents AT&T, Verizon and other ISPs, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Meanwhile, small Texas broadband provider Alamo Broadband filed suit in the U.S. appeals court in New Orleans.
Both lawsuits claim the FCC overstepped its authority in issuing the new rules and classifying ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Commucations Act. The companies also claim the rules violate broadband ISPs' First Amendment rights.
"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," USTelecom said in a statement.
The FCC has repeatedly stated that while they reclassified ISPs under Title II, they will forbear from most of the sections of Title II that apply to utilities, including rate regulation or a return to local loop unbundling. The agency reclassified ISPs in the hopes of putting previously overturned rules on more secure legal footing, and industry lawsuits were expected.
Consumer groups like Free Press were unsurprisingly unimpressed by the suits.
"The DC lawyers and lobbyists for these companies have been out of touch with reality from the start, busily trying to scare lawmakers away from the restoration of these common sense safeguards for the Open Internet with false tales about harms to investment and innovation," the group said in a statement. "These companies have threatened all along to sue over the FCC's decision, even though that decision is supported by millions of people and absolutely essential for our economy."
USTelecom Net neutrality lawsuit