Regulatory classification

Democrats on the Federal Communications Commission are taking issue with Chairman Ajit Pai's announcement that the agency would clarify edge providers' Section 230 immunity from civil liability over third-party content, as the White House has asked.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted an Order on Remand in response to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit’s remand of three discrete issues for further consideration by the FCC regarding its 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order. The court’s Oct 2019 ruling in Mozilla Corp. v. FCC affirmed the FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality rules. The Court’s decision also upheld the FCC’s robust transparency rule ensuring consumers are fully informed about their online options. This action addresses the few remaining issues the court asked the FCC to consider.

On Oct 27, the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve an Order on Remand that would reaffirm the agency’s 2017 net neutrality repeal. The vote is a response to a 2019 remand by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Mozilla v. FCC ordering the agency to address how its net neutrality repeal could harm public safety, pole attachments, and even the Lifeline program. 

Chairman Pai is at it again, pushing his anti-consumer agenda – this time on the eve of an historic election.  Americans deserve strong Net Neutrality protections, but this FCC is rushing ahead of November 3rd to further cement its efforts to deprive Americans of these critical protections.  At a time when internet connectivity is especially critical for students, parents, first responders, low-income and rural Americans, the FCC should be protecting American families, not undermining them.  Time and again, this FCC has put industry interests before those of consumers, and its actions this

Can the Federal Communications Commission regulate the internet? Can it offer consumer protections for broadband subscribers? Can it regulate the content found on social media sites?

Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA-18), a senior member of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to express her high concerns that the FCC is ignoring its court-mandated obligation to protect public safety in its latest net neutrality repeal order and called on the Chairman to drop the proposal from next week’s open meeting agenda. “California is experiencing the most horrific wildfire season in history, and I’m deeply concerned that the FCC is ignoring its mandate to protect public safety as required by statute and by a federal

Representatives from AT&T met with Federal Communications Commission staff to answer a Common Cause, Public Knowledge and Next Century Cities letter sent to the FCC claiming AT&T’s decision to grandfather copper-based DSL services – services the groups maintain should not even be considered broadband – somehow underscores the need for full-fledged public utility regulation of broadband.

Internet service providers will suffer “irreparable harm” if California is allowed to enforce its net neutrality law, which includes restrictions on carriers' ability to exempt video streams from data caps, trade groups told a federal judge.

On October 1, AT&T stopped selling digital-subscriber-line (DSL) connections. At first glance, the move may seem like a market-based decision to drop an obsolete technology. But as journalists and advocates were quick to pick up on: What about the abandoned customers? At a time when safety dictates that many of us learn and earn from home, how are people to do so when a commercial decision impacts health and well-being?

Public Knowledge, Communications Workers of America, National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Next Century Cities, Common Cause, and Greenlining Institute filed an ex parte warning the Federal Communications Commission that its deregulatory agenda leaves consumers vulnerable to losing broadband service during the pandemic. AT&T recently told the FCC that it is discontinuing DSL broadband service.