‘A FEMA-level fail’: The law professor who coined ‘net neutrality’ lashes out at the FCC’s legal strategy

A Q&A with Tim Wu, the professor at Columbia Law School who’s credited with coining the phrase “net neutrality.”

He said the court decision to know down net neutrality riles “leaves the Internet in completely uncharted territory. There's never been a situation where providers can block whatever they want.” He continues, “This was a huge legal error on the FCC's part. The FCC's legal strategy put it in the position of arguing that its rules are not common carrier rules when the two components of the regulation — anti-blocking and anti-discrimination — have been at the center of common carrier regulation since medieval times, around 1450. They blew it on the legal strategy. It's a big fail. It's like, FEMA-level fail. Every legal expert told the FCC they're going to lose this case, and they did. It reminds me of the Bush administration, where everyone said the problem in Iraq isn't going to be the invasion — it's going to be in the aftermath. Think of it this way: The FCC is like a battleship, and it has these enormous guns. But it decided to use a water pistol for this particular issue. Or, put differently: The FCC is like a car with a massive engine, and they decided not to use the engine but rather the bicycle that was attached to the car.”