Computer Cos. Join Fight Against FCC Net Reg Rule Rollback

The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has filed its petition to intervene in the court challenge to the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom order.

The following can be attributed to CCIA President & CEO Ed Black:

“This order MUST NOT AND WILL NOT STAND!," said CCIA President Ed Black (emphasis his). "CCIA is committed to ensuring that the Internet will be governed by the principles of net neutrality and open access. Whether through court proceedings such as this, through future regulatory return to good sense, or through future legislation, CCIA will not stop until we secure strong, reasonable and enforceable rules protecting the Internet and its billions of users."

A politically divided FCC voted on Dec. 14 to eliminate the rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization that the previous, Democratic majority had imposed in 2015. The FCC also reclassified ISPs as Title I information service and scrapped a general conduct standard that allowed the FCC to take action against conduct not against the rules but potentially threatening to an open internet.

“The FCC’s brazen and unjustified action harms internet users, businesses and innovation. CCIA looks forward to offering strong, substantive legal arguments about the importance of an open internet for the digital economy and America’s global competitiveness."

Edge providers represented by the Internet Alliance also asked the court Thursday to allow them to intervene in support of the rule rollback challenges.

While not a party to the case, an intervenor is allowed to join a case without the parties' permission, though CCIA says that the parties to the case on both sides have either affirmatively said they don't object, or haven't said they did object.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.