[AfrICANN-discuss] Public Interest Groups Take Aim At FCC Net Neutrality Order

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

 Public Interest Groups Take Aim At FCC Net Neutrality Order
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/07/25/public-interest-groups-take-aim-at-fcc-net-neutrality-order/?utm_source=post&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alerts

Published on 25 July 2012 @ 10:01 pm

Intellectual Property Watch

Tech Freedom, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Free State Foundation,
and the Cato Institute filed an amicus brief yesterday with the Washington,
DC Court of Appeals claiming that the US Federal Communication Commission’s
2011 “Preserving the Open Internet” order is unconstitutional.

The coalition of interest groups argue that the 2011 order unjustly favours
content providers and marginalises the constitutional rights of broadband
providers. Tech Freedom President Berin Szoka claims that the FCC’s net
neutrality order infringes upon the First Amendment right of broadband
providers because it denies them editorial discretion, thereby compelling
them to impart content that they may disagree with.

The brief also discounts FCC claims of “ancillary jurisdiction” beyond its
congressional mandate. The coalition of interest groups argues that the FCC
has overstepped its role and calls on the court system to limit the
boundaries of authority of the organization.

“We’re asking the Court to rein in an agency that it [has] previously
criticized for making sweeping claims of authority that would ‘virtually
free the Commission from its congressional tether,” Szoka said in a press
release.

The case of *Verizon v. FCC* and the amicus brief are available
here<http://techfreedom.org/amicus-briefs/2012/07/24/verizon-v-fcc-net-neutrality-amicus-brief-techfreedom-cei-free-state-founda>.


EU Open Internet Not So Open?

The submission of this legal brief comes on the heels of the net neutrality
discussion heating up in Europe as the European Commission (EC) opened its
net neutrality consultation period on 23 July.

Despite the Commission’s open invitation for input regarding its net
neutrality policy (*IPW*, European Policy, 23 July
2012<http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/07/23/european-commission-seeks-public-input-on-preservation-of-the-open-internet/>),
the EC has reportedly blocked the access of TOR users to its website. TOR
is an internet anonymisation technology used by many in the Arab transition
movement. These reports of the EC blocking web access follow similar
reports of it blocking users with internet anonymisation technology in
March.
Related Articles:

   - New Website Allows Reporting On Violations Of Net
Neutrality<http://www.ip-watch.org/2011/09/26/new-website-allows-reporting-on-violations-of-net-neutrality/>
   - European Commission Seeks Public Input On Preservation Of The Open
   Internet<http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/07/23/european-commission-seeks-public-input-on-preservation-of-the-open-internet/>
   - UN Non-Takeover Of The Net: ITU’s Touré Calls For Documents To Be
   Public<http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/06/20/un-non-takeover-of-the-net-itus-toure-calls-for-docs-to-be-public/>
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