The time is now for opponents and supporters of net neutrality to have their day in court. Last week the FCC made their list of Open Internet rules available to all. Once the rules are published in the Federal Register the FCC and their opponents will begin the legal battle. Large telecom companies and their trade organizations are the main players in the anti-FCC argument. The core issue will be the same regardless of who files the lawsuit. The FCC’s actions have guaranteed a lengthy dispute over federal regulation of the Internet.
Geoffrey Manne of the International Center for Law & Economics and senior fellow at TechFreedom says the FCC didn’t give enough notice about its intention to reclassify Internet service and regulate interconnection agreements between Internet providers and content companies.
“It’s mind-numbingly boring,” he says, “but exactly the sort of thing on which agency rules founder all the time.” Manne also argues that the rules could be found arbitrary and capricious, since the FCC hasn’t sufficiently laid out the basis that there is real harm caused by the lack of net neutrality rules.