FCC Net Neutrality Repeal Faces One Hell of a Court Fight | DSLReports, ISP Information

["DAVID FARBER" <dfarber () me com>]

> http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Net-Neutrality-Repeal-Faces-One-Hell-of-a-Court-Fight-140800 
> <http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Net-Neutrality-Repeal-Faces-One-Hell-of-a-Court-Fight-140800>
>
> FCC Net Neutrality Repeal Faces One Hell of a Court Fight
>
> With the FCC slated to ignore the public and vote anyway to repeal net neutrality on December 14, many may wonder 
> what happens next. After the expected 3-2 vote to kill the popular rules, the repeal will likely be posted in the 
> federal register sometime in January. That will be the green light for numerous lawsuits against the FCC that will be 
> filed by both consumer groups, and the smaller companies and competitors who'll likely be harmed by eliminating 
> meaningful oversight of some of the least competitive, and least liked, companies in America.
>
> And the FCC has its work cut out for it in court.
> The FCC will need to prove that the broadband market changed substantially in the two years since the rules were 
> created to justify such a stark reversal of what, by any measure, was a very popular policy. Consumer advocate 
> lawyers will be looking to prove that the FCC acted in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner in violation of the 
> Administrative Procedure Act.
>
> And they will have ample evidence to support that claim.
>
> For starters, the FCC is ignoring the record 22 million consumers opposed to the FCC's plan to gut the rules, and the 
> fact that survey 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Yet-Another-Survey-Finds-Majority-Support-Net-Neutrality-Rules-140414> after 
> survey <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Mozilla-Poll-Net-Neutrality-Has-Broad-Bipartisan-Support-139721> show net 
> neutrality has broad, bipartisan support. The FCC's net neutrality rule repeal isn't just unpopular -- it may just be 
> the least popular government tech policy decision in the history of broadband -- dwarfing even the backlash activists 
> saw during the fight over SOPA <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act>.
>
> There's also the fact that most of the FCC's data supporting its repeal of net neutrality is based on outright lies 
> that have been disproven by analysts and journalists time and time again. Like the FCC's claim (parroted by large 
> ISPs) that net neutrality destroyed sector investment 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/The-FCC-is-Lying-When-It-Claims-Net-Neutrality-Hurt-Investment-140782> -- when 
> SEC filings and more than half a dozen public ISP CEO statements 
> <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/05/title-ii-hasnt-hurt-network-investment-according-to-the-isps-themselves/>
>  have disproven this canard repeatedly.
>
> But the FCC has another, more serious problem that goes well beyond its obvious disdain for the will of the public 
> and the facts. The agency has repeatedly turned a blind eye to the wholesale fraud that occurred during the FCC's 
> public comment period. We've noted how numerous studies have shown that some group or organization used a hacked 
> database to fill the FCC proceeding with bogus support 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Bots-Flood-FCC-Website-With-Fake-AntiNetNeutrality-Comments-139541> for the 
> agency's plan, a tactic that went so far as to include the names of dead people 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/The-Dead-Are-Mysteriously-Urging-The-FCC-to-Kill-Net-Neutrality-140634>.
>
> Early indications are that a notable chunk of this bogus support originated with policy organizations that do 
> business with various ISP lobbying organizations 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/CQ-Roll-Call-Helped-Mystery-Customer-Send-FCC-Comments-140494>. If the looming 
> lawsuits can illustrate a direct tie between this fraudulent behavior and the broadband industry, and that the FCC 
> was aware of this but did nothing to try and downplay public opposition, things could get very interesting for the 
> FCC, very quickly.
> There will be several other tangential efforts that could spell trouble for the FCC. That includes the General 
> Accounting Office's investigation into an apparently bogus claim by the FCC 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/GAO-to-Investigate-FCCs-Flimsy-Bizarre-DDoS-Attack-Claim-140527> that it faced a 
> DDoS attack during the comment period, a claim utterly unsupported by any real evidence. Indications are somebody at 
> the FCC either conflated an influx of angry John Oliver viewers 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Website-Chokes-After-John-Oliver-Weighs-in-on-Net-Neutrality-139524> as a 
> DDoS attack, or intentionally created the DDoS attack in a bizarre attempt to downplay legitimate public opposition 
> to the FCC's plan ("people aren't really angry at our policy, we were unfairly attacked!").
>
> The FCC's also facing several lawsuits from reporters who say the agency failed to disclose its meeting with ISPs 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Sued-for-Not-Being-Transparent-About-Talks-With-ISPs-140026>, failed to do 
> anything about website comment fraud 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Sued-for-Inaction-on-Bogus-Net-Neutrality-Comments-140356>, and ignored 
> Freedom of Information Act requests 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Sued-For-Hiding-Details-On-its-Phantom-DDOS-Attack-140048> for additional 
> detail on said phantom DDoS attack. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is also conducting an investigation 
> <https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/29/new-yorks-attorney-general-sets-up-a-page-to-report-fraudulent-fcc-comments/> into 
> identity theft to fuel bogus FCC support. The law isn't going to much care about Ajit Pai's political narrative if it 
> can be proven that the FCC ignored proper agency procedure or worse, broke the law.
>
> Should the FCC successfully run this legal gauntlet, it still has to find a way to prevent future FCC's in the post 
> Trump era from simply re-establishing the rules via another 3-2 party line vote. That's why you'll likely see a push 
> for a new net neutrality law 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ISPs-Begin-Sales-Pitch-For-a-New-Flimsy-Net-Neutrality-Law-140020> in the new 
> year backed by ISPs like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T. Said law will profess to "fix" the problem ISP lobbyists created 
> by imposing a new net neutrality law that looks good on the surface, but will be so loophole-filled as to be largely 
> useless (this was a tactic they already tried with the help of Senator John Thune 
> <https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Dont-Drink-the-Thune-Upton-Net-Neutrality-Kool-Aid-132370?nocomment=1>).
>
> Such a flimsy law would, however, prevent the FCC from revisiting the subject down the road. Expect ISP-loyal 
> politicians, academics, think tankers, consultants, lobbyists and other policy parrots to begin making a hard push 
> for this new law in the new year -- just as the multiple lawsuits against the FCC begin to truly heat up. 



-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/18849915-ae8fa580
Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-aa268125
Unsubscribe Now: 
https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-32545cb4&post_id=20171213155816:55931E14-E048-11E7-BFA0-E6227B032A99
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com