Free Press

[Commentary] With each congressional office getting thousands of calls for Network Neutrality and close to zero supporting Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai — and with Net Neutrality looking like a real issue in the 2018 elections — we’ve got a shot at passing the resolution. If you haven’t yet called your members of Congress, please do it now. And, yes, the president would need to sign this bill. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, so I’ll just say we welcome that fight.

Free Press filed a petition for review of the Federal Communications Commission’s unpopular Dec. 14 order that repealed the agency’s Net Neutrality rules and reversed the Title II “telecommunications services” classification of broadband-internet access. Free Press filed its challenge in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts, the state where the organization’s main office is based. As the papers submitted to the court make clear, today’s filing is preliminary and protective in nature. The FCC released its Net Neutrality decision on Jan. 4.

In response to the massive outcry from people like you, we have a last-ditch effort for real, robust surveillance reform. But this won’t happen unless we continue to make a lot of noise. On Jan 11, the House will vote to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Unfortunately, the underlying bill is terrible and would actually work to expand government surveillance.

How soon can you win a legal victory and end this nightmare? The soonest Free Press can file in court is after the order is published, either by the Federal Communications Commission itself or in that Federal Register. (There are some complicated timing rules that can apply differently to different parts of the FCC’s vote, so that’s why there’s some flexibility.) Once that publication happens, we’ll file within 10 days — a timeframe set for making a first appearance and starting the process to determine which federal appeals court will hear the case.

There’s still a small chance we could stop the upcoming network neutrality vote — but if we lose the rules, what’s next? First of all, Free Press will take the Federal Communications Commission to court. Suing the FCC poses the best chance for us to win back strong Title II protections.