{"id":344162,"date":"2018-01-17T05:46:14","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T04:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/free-press-among-first-to-take-fcc-to-court-for-unpopular-and-unjustified-net-neutrality-decision-free-press\/"},"modified":"2018-01-17T05:46:14","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T04:46:14","slug":"free-press-among-first-to-take-fcc-to-court-for-unpopular-and-unjustified-net-neutrality-decision-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/free-press-among-first-to-take-fcc-to-court-for-unpopular-and-unjustified-net-neutrality-decision-free-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Press Among First to Take FCC to Court for Unpopular and Unjustified Net Neutrality Decision | Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, Free Press filed a petition for review of the FCC\u2019s unpopular Dec. 14 order that repealed the agency\u2019s Net Neutrality rules and reversed the Title II \u201ctelecommunications services\u201d classification of broadband-internet access.<\/p>\n

Free Press filed its challenge in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts, the state where the organization\u2019s main office is based.<\/p>\n

As the papers submitted to the court make clear, today\u2019s filing is preliminary and protective in nature. The FCC released its Net Neutrality decision on Jan. 4. The decision suggests that lawsuits need not be filed until after the FCC\u2019s order is published in the Federal Register. That publication has not yet occurred.<\/p>\n

Yet in 2015, following the adoption of the prior FCC Open Internet Order, some parties filed immediately after the FCC release. While arguing that such filings were premature, the FCC nonetheless began the process for choosing the appellate court that ultimately heard the 2015 case.<\/p>\n

Others challenging FCC Chairman Ajit Pai\u2019s decision, and likely filing their own suits today, likewise would do so on a protective basis, in case the FCC once again begins the court-selection process early. If the FCC holds off on that process, as Free Press and other open-internet supporters believe it should, then these same parties would likely file in court again after the agency\u2019s order appears in the Federal Register.<\/p>\n

Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood<\/strong> made the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cFree Press promised to see the FCC in court when the agency voted to strike down Net Neutrality in December. Today is the first step in that process. Our filing is preliminary in some respects, as the shot clock for filing appeals is settled. Yet that doesn\u2019t diminish the importance of making the case that the FCC was wrong to repeal its Net Neutrality rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cAjit Pai and his Republican colleagues at the FCC blundered their way to a bad decision late last year. They ignored the legal and economic evidence showing that the prior rules and regulatory classifications were working beautifully, as broadband investment and deployment continued to grow under the Title II-based rules Pai struck down.<\/p>\n

\u201cPai also ignored irregularities in the agency\u2019s own commenting procedures. The agency\u2019s comment docket shows there was an unprecedented public outcry in support of keeping the Net Neutrality rules, but there were also fraudulent submissions that the FCC refused to investigate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that wasn\u2019t the end of the procedural fouls. The FCC also ignored thousands of complaints alleging that ISPs had violated the 2015 rules, and failed to provide proper notice of the many rule changes it voted to adopt.<\/p>\n

\u201cMomentum to restore strong Net Neutrality rules rooted in Title II keeps growing. Millions of people have spoken out because they recognize how important the open internet is for racial justice, free expression, innovation and economic opportunity. Lawmakers are signing up by the hundreds to overturn the FCC\u2019s decision. And the courts will have their say too as they begin to assess the legal and factual errors underlying the FCC\u2019s wrongful repeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Via Common Dreams<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, Free Press filed a petition for review of the FCC\u2019s unpopular Dec. 14 order that repealed the agency\u2019s Net Neutrality rules and reversed the Title II \u201ctelecommunications services\u201d classification of broadband-internet access. Free Press filed its challenge in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts, the state where the organization\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-344162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}