FCC votes to repeal net neutrality rules; AG Bob Ferguson promises to sue the FCC

As expect­ed, the three Repub­li­cans on the now right wing-con­trolled Fed­er­al Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Com­mis­sion vot­ed today to repeal the net neu­tral­i­ty rules that have for two years barred ser­vice providers like Com­cast from engag­ing in dis­crim­i­na­to­ry prac­tices like throt­tling and blocking.

The two Demo­c­ra­t­ic com­mis­sion­ers dis­sent­ed sharply, declar­ing the vote and the process lead­ing up to it a sham. The rules, orig­i­nal­ly approved in 2015 as part of Tom Wheel­er’s ground­break­ing Open Inter­net ini­tia­tive, reclas­si­fied broad­band as a pub­lic util­i­ty under Title II of the Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Act, there­by giv­ing the FCC the author­i­ty to reg­u­late com­pa­nies like Com­cast as com­mon carriers.

“I dis­sent, because I am among the mil­lions who is out­raged,” said Demo­c­ra­t­ic Com­mis­sion­er Mignon Clyburn. “Out­raged, because the FCC pulls its own teeth, abdi­cat­ing respon­si­bil­i­ty to pro­tect the nation’s broad­band consumers.”

“Why are we wit­ness­ing such an unprece­dent­ed groundswell of pub­lic sup­port, for keep­ing the 2015 net neu­tral­i­ty pro­tec­tions in place? Because the pub­lic can plain­ly see, that a soon-to-be-tooth­less FCC, is hand­ing the keys to the Inter­net – the Inter­net, one of the most remark­able, empow­er­ing, enabling inven­tions of our life­time – over to a hand­ful of mul­ti-bil­lion dol­lar corporations.”

“And if past is pro­logue, those very same broad­band inter­net ser­vice providers, that the major­i­ty says you should trust to do right by you, will put prof­its and share­hold­er returns above, what is best for you.”

“Each of us raised our right hands when we were sworn in as FCC Com­mis­sion­ers, took an oath and promised to uphold our duties and respon­si­bil­i­ties ‘to make avail­able, so far as pos­si­ble, to all the peo­ple of the Unit­ed States, with­out dis­crim­i­na­tion… a rapid, effi­cient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio com­mu­ni­ca­tion ser­vice with ade­quate facil­i­ties at rea­son­able charges.’ Today the FCC major­i­ty offi­cial­ly aban­dons that pledge and mil­lions have tak­en note.”

Today’s vote, orches­trat­ed by Ver­i­zon and Com­cast pup­pet Ajit Pai — Don­ald Trump’s choice to run the FCC — seeks to revert to the reg­u­la­to­ry scheme that was in place before 2015, which did not require that Amer­i­can ISPs treat traf­fic equal­ly. How­ev­er, it is cer­tain to be chal­lenged in court.

“Yes­ter­day I sent a let­ter to the FCC ask­ing them to delay their vote gut­ting net neu­tral­i­ty,” said Wash­ing­ton State Attor­ney Gen­er­al Bob Fer­gu­son in a state­ment released min­utes after the vote. “Unfor­tu­nate­ly, they did not.”

“Today, I am announc­ing my inten­tion to file a legal chal­lenge to the FCC’s deci­sion to roll back net neu­tral­i­ty, along with attor­neys gen­er­al across the country.

“We are 5–0 against the Trump Admin­is­tra­tion because they often fail to fol­low the law when tak­ing exec­u­tive action. There is a strong legal argu­ment that with this action, the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment vio­lat­ed the Admin­is­tra­tive Pro­ce­dure Act — again.”

“We will be fil­ing a peti­tion for review in the com­ing days. Allow­ing inter­net ser­vice providers to dis­crim­i­nate based on con­tent under­mines a free and open inter­net. Today’s action will seri­ous­ly harm con­sumers, inno­va­tion and small businesses.

“I was proud to stand with Gov­er­nor Inslee yes­ter­day when he announced that Wash­ing­ton State will step up to pro­tect con­sumers in light of this dis­ap­point­ing fed­er­al action,” the Attor­ney Gen­er­al added. “I com­mend him for his lead­er­ship and look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to work with him to that end.”

“Amer­i­ca has been a world leader in inno­va­tion in large part because we’ve ben­e­fit­ed from a free and open inter­net, but we won’t remain at the top by adopt­ing back­ward poli­cies that hurt con­sumers,” said U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Suzan Del­Bene in a state­ment denounc­ing Ajit Pai’s scheme.

“I strong­ly oppose the FCC’s deci­sion to ful­ly repeal net neu­tral­i­ty and allow inter­net ser­vice providers to influ­ence the con­tent users can see. Giv­en the oppor­tu­ni­ty, inter­net ser­vice providers could block con­tent and ser­vices or charge pre­mi­ums for the kind of open access we’ve come to expect. There’s no ques­tion that today’s vote is a mas­sive loss, both for con­sumers and for innovation.”

“Despite the pleas of mil­lions of Amer­i­cans, Pres­i­dent Trump’s FCC vot­ed to change the inter­net as we know it, and turn it into yet anoth­er mon­ey-mak­ing tool for large cor­po­ra­tions,” said Wash­ing­ton’s senior Unit­ed States Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Murray.

“This move is shame­ful and wrong, and I encour­age the many, many peo­ple affect­ed by today’s decision—from stu­dents and fam­i­lies, to small busi­ness own­ers and the next gen­er­a­tion of innovators—to keep fight­ing back. We will not for­get who and what comes first in the Trump/Republican agenda.”

“Today’s deci­sion threat­ens our boom­ing inno­va­tion econ­o­my,” said Sen­a­tor Maria Cantwell. “It’s impos­si­ble to know where the next big com­pa­nies will come from, which makes an open and free inter­net all the more impor­tant to inno­va­tors, entre­pre­neurs and job cre­ators – espe­cial­ly in the tech-dri­ven Pacif­ic Northwest.”

Cantwell and fif­teen oth­er Demo­c­ra­t­ic sen­a­tors intend to intro­duce a Con­gres­sion­al Review Act (CRA) res­o­lu­tion that would undo today’s action by the FCC and restore the rules approved by Com­mis­sion­ers Tom Wheel­er, Mignon Clyburn, and Jes­si­ca Rosen­wor­cel dur­ing the pres­i­den­cy of Barack Oba­ma. How­ev­er, since Repub­li­cans con­trol the Sen­ate, it’s unlike­ly to go any­where, at least not until 2019.