'Tech Elder' Berninger Seeks FCC Stay of Title II

VoIP pioneer Daniel Berninger has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to stay its Title II reclassification decision until a federal appeals court, likely the DC circuit, hears various appeals of that open Internet order. Making an argument for what he calls irreparable harm to entrepreneurship (irreparable harm is one of the threshold issues for a stay), Berninger says the FCC decision will keep him from earning a living and strand his investment in previously unregulated services with no chance of recovering it. He also makes a case for why a stay would not harm others, why it is in the public interest and why a challenge of the rules is likely to succeed on the merits. Berninger says he will seek a court stay if the FCC does not respond by early May.

Berninger has been leading a group of self-described "tech elders," including broadband video pioneer Mark Cuban, who are opposed to Title II reclassification of Internet access as a common carrier service, which the FCC adopted Feb. 26 on a pure party line vote with strong dissents from the Republicans. Berninger said Title II reclassification threatens his livelihood and causes "irreparable harm to my career as an architect of new communications services if allowed to take effect pending judicial review."