The Sixth Circuit in Support of Net Neutrality: The Right Way to Protect the Internet from Accessibility and Uncertainty, And Why We Need It
“Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair,” she said in a statement. With this decision it is clear that Congress needs to take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law.
The judges were free to wax poetic about the meaning of phrases like ‘offering of a capability’ and ‘information services’ which are more heavily regulated. One part of the ruling reads that the existence of a fact or a thought in a person’s mind isn’t the same as using 0s and 1s. It asserts that “speaking reduces a thought to sound, and writing reduces a thought to text … during a phone call, one creates audio information by speaking, which the telephone service transmits to an interlocutor, who responds in turn,” but “crucially, the telephone service merely transmits that which a speaker creates; it does not access information.”
Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr, Trump’s pick to lead the agency, issued a lengthy statement commending the ruling. He says net neutrality rules are an attempt to expand the government’s control over every feature of the internet. While he’s pleased with the ruling, he adds, “The work to unwind the Biden Administration’s regulatory overreach will continue.”
USTelecom hailed Thursday’s decision in a statement, calling the struck rules “a victory for American consumers that will lead to more investment, innovation, and competition in the dynamic digital marketplace.”
The FCC wants to make it mandatory for ISPs to be more accountable for their service, need more robust network security, protect fast speeds, and protect consumer data.
Net neutrality was first introduced by the FCC during the Obama Administration in 2015 and was repealed two years later under then-President Donald Trump.
Democrats have been in favor of net neutrality because they believe that internet service providers need to be held more accountable for providing a safe and reliable internet for all. The Biden Administration prioritized the implementation of net neutrality rules.
And not just on issues affecting the broadband industry. The Sixth Circuit showed today how courts might use the end of Chevron deference to shape all sorts of policy, from tech to the environment to health care to pretty much any area where legislative ambiguity reigns.
Evan Greer, director of the digital rights nonprofit Fight for the Future, said it is a sad day when giant corporations can forum-shop for industry-friendly judges to strike down consumer protection rules. The court citing Loper Bright is an alarming example of industry-friendly rulings to come.
On the Imbalance of Power in a GOP-Government-Legered Legislature and the Role of the Executive Branch in State Laws
There’s at least one way out of this imbalance of power, Bergmayer says: Congress can pass a bill that explicitly says agencies have the authority to interpret laws. That seems unlikely, though, in a GOP-led legislature that’s wary of—or outright hostile toward—the administrative state.