Public-Interest Groups urge FCC to release net neutrality complaints

Public interest groups opposed to the repeal of network neutrality rules are asking the Federal Communications Commission to release a trove of documents in an effort to keep the rules in place. Sixteen groups signed a letter urging the FCC to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for tens of thousands of complaints that have been filed since the net neutrality rules were implemented in 2015.

They also called for the FCC to delay its repeal of the rules, which require internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally, until the complaints have been released and reviewed. “It is disturbing that the FCC has apparently failed to review documents that are in its exclusive possession prior to crafting [a notice of proposed rulemaking] to repeal the very rules that established these enforceable mechanisms to redress consumer harms,” the letter reads. The letter was signed by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Knowledge, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Common Cause.