A coalition of smaller ISPs is joining the legal fight to preserve net neutrality. INCOMPAS is an industry trade association representing many of the country’s smaller telcos, including independent California ISP Sonic. INCOMPAS this week stated that it would be joining the impending lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to halt the agency's net neutrality repeal, widely maligned as a grotesque handout to giant, uncompetitive broadband incumbents like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast.
INCOMPAS says it filed a Petition in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Monday challenging the FCC's misleadingly-named Restoring Internet Freedom Order.
"The American people do not want the internet to look more like cable, where prices rise, customer service falls, and gatekeepers control what you watch, read and pay," the group said in a statement.
Many of the group's members are no stranger to companies like AT&T using every trick in the book to engage in anti-competitive behavior, and they're well aware that if the rules aren't preserved that behavior is only going to get worse.
"As we watch the AT&T-Time Warner antitrust trial unfolding, it’s clear large ISPs fear a competitive streaming marketplace," the group added. "Their desire to gobble up content, rather than creating it from scratch, is a sign that anti-competitive interconnection practices and paid prioritization schemes are on the horizon unless strong net neutrality protections are preserved."
Sonic CEO Dane Jasper, a regular in our forums, has earned a reputation for standing up for consumer privacy in ways incumbent ISPs often refuse to.
"Net neutrality has always been critical for small businesses and start-ups to compete in the internet age," Jasper says. "When the FCC eliminated those protections, it opened the door for large, incumbent ISPs to use their gatekeeper position to put a stranglehold on innovation and competition. As an ISP, Sonic believes every American should have access to fast and affordable internet. The repeal of net neutrality threatens this vision, and we’re proud to support INCOMPAS in challenging the FCC’s disastrous Order in Court."
INCOMPAS joins Mozilla, Vimeo, numerous consumer groups and 23 State Attorneys general in filing suit against the Trump FCC, alleging that the agency ignored objective data, consumer welfare, and numerous experts in their rush to give incumbent telecom monopolies a giant, sloppy kiss.