Cable and Phone Lobby’s Desperate Legal Moves Are Just ‘Sour Grapes’ About Net Neutrality Ruling

These requests for en banc review are sour grapes from industry dead-enders who are determined to dismantle the FCC’s successful Net Neutrality rules in spite of their many failed attempts to do so. The D.C. Circuit was abundantly clear when it upheld the FCC last month. The court found that the FCC had acted on its well-defined authority to prevent internet service providers from unfairly interfering with our communications. The D.C. Circuit deferred to the FCC’s determination that its authority to do so stands on bedrock communications law. And the judges recognized the vital role the open internet plays in our society. The broadband industry has been doing just fine since the FCC adopted the Open Internet Order a year and a half ago. Not one of the industry’s doom-and-gloom predictions has come true. The order didn’t dampen investment or revenues for broadband providers, and internet users have added confidence that their rights to connect and communicate are protected. Last-ditch efforts like these petitions are unlikely to succeed. Big phone and cable companies obviously have plenty of money to waste on high-priced lawyers. But they should give up their foolish quest to overturn rules that benefit internet users.