Net neutrality battle may be fought in the US Supreme Court
02 May 2017
A federal appeals court has declined to rehearing a landmark case that sought to overturn the government's various rules on net neutrality, which bars internet providers from blocking or slowing internet traffic.
With the decision yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit allowed its previous ruling upholding the regulations to stand and paved the way for opponents of the rules to appeal to the Supreme Court.
''I'm super excited,'' said Daniel Berninger, one of the critics who in 2015 sued the Federal Communications Commission, which wrote the rules, The Washington Post reported. ''When we get to the Supreme Court, we want to be saying [to a largely conservative bench] this is a severe case of government overreach.''
Berninger added, that if the Supreme Court agreed to take the case, it could hear oral arguments next spring. Berninger intends to file his appeal within 90 days.
US Telecom, a trade association supporting internet providers that also sued the FCC in 2015, said it was reviewing its legal options.
The DC Circuit's decision comes days after the FCC's Republican chairman Ajit Pai presented a separate plan to dismantle the net neutrality regulations framed by his Democratic predecessor.
According to Pai the rules had discouraged internet providers from upgrading their networks and that repealing net neutrality rules would create new jobs. Also, high-speed internet service should no longer be treated like a public utility with strict rules, as it was now, according to Pai.
Under Pai's plan the industry would largely be left to police itself.
According to commentators, the plan was Pai's most forceful action in his efforts to roll back rules that governed telecommunications, cable and broadcasting companies, which he said were harmful to business.
''Two years ago, I warned that we were making a serious mistake,'' Pai said at the Newseum in Washington, where he laid out the plan in a speech.
''It's basic economics. The more heavily you regulate something, the less of it you're likely to get.''
