On the heels of lawsuits from industry trade groups the ACA, the CTIA and USTelecom, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association has also filed its own lawsuit against the FCC's new net neutrality rules. According to the NCTA, the FCC's shift toward Title II "contravenes critical principles of administrative law and fundamentally misapplied statutes passed by Congress," and is an "arbitrary and capricious" implementation of "outdated utility style regulations."
In a statement posted the the NCTA website, former FCC boss turned top cable lobbyist Michael Powell insists they're only suing because they want Congress to come in and pass real net neutrality rules:
quote:
"This appeal is not about net neutrality but the FCC’s unnecessary action to apply outdated utility style regulation to the most innovative network in our history,” said Michael Powell, NCTA President & CEO. “The FCC went far beyond the public’s call for sound net neutrality rules. Instead, it took the opportunity to engineer for itself a central role in regulating and directing the evolution of the Internet. We regrettably file this appeal and urge Congress to assert its role in setting national policy, by enacting legislation that fully protects the open Internet, without the harmful impact of public utility regulation."
Of course the last thing the telecom industry wants is real net neutrality rules, given the potential billions to be made by taking advantage of an uncompetitive last mile. Despite oodles of rhetoric from industry regarding everything from First Amendment rights to a love of Internet openness, protecting potential income gleaned by anti-competitive shenanigans is all the net neutrality fight has ever truly been about.
So why the cable industry's sudden love of Congress? Prompted by industry, Senator John Thune and Representative Fred Upton have been pushing a net neutrality proposal that's actually weaker than the 2010 rules (which Comcast approved of) while weakening the FCC's authority substantially. As such by "enacting legislation that fully protects the open Internet," most analysts realize Powell means the exact opposite, and as such the effort hasn't seen much traction.
Meanwhile, the FCC has argued that its implementation of Title II actually forbears from most of the heavier utility-style aspects of Title II, including open access or rate regulation. The agency has also made it relatively clear most of the current business practices ISPs engage in (including zero rating apps) will be tolerated under the new regime. Despite a lot of hand wringing from sector lobbyists, ISPs have
privately noted on
numerous occasions that the rules
don't impact their businesses in the slightest.