22 states ask court to restore net neutrality

Attorneys general representing 22 states and the District of Columbia asked a federal court to reinstate network neutrality, saying the Federal Communications Commission failed to properly consider the issues when removing the policy in 2017. In a brief filed Aug 20, the attorneys general argue that the FCC’s decision “will cause [inevitable harms] to consumers, public safety, and existing regulatory schemes” and that the commission “entirely ignored many of these issues” when overturning net neutrality. In particular, the attorneys general say that the commission failed to consider public safety concerns that could come from the loss of net neutrality. That’s a critical problem, they say, because public safety is part of the agency’s forming statute. The brief also says the obvious: that the FCC just outright ignored a lot of clear evidence that internet providers aren’t the honest lot they claim to be. The FCC accepted industry promises, they write, despite “substantial record evidence showing that [broadband] providers have abused ... and will abuse their gatekeeper roles in ways that harm consumers and threaten public safety.”