States sue to block rollback of net neutrality

Twenty-three attorneys general filed a petition Thursday in federal court to begin their lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission’s rollback of net neutrality. The FCC published the final rule rolling back net neutrality in Thursday’s Federal Register

“Today, the FCC made official its illegal rollback of net neutrality – and, as promised, our coalition of attorneys general is filing suit,” said New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. “An open internet, and the free exchange of ideas it allows, is critical to our democratic process.”

Repealing net neutrality will allow internet service providers to put corporate profits over consumers by controlling what they see, do, and say online, said Schneiderman.

Internet service providers will be able to block certain content, charge consumers more to access certain sites, and throttle or slow the quality of content from content providers that don’t pay more.

The FCC can’t make “arbitrary and capricious” changes to existing policies, such as net neutrality, the attorneys general will argue in their suit. The FCC’s rule fails to justify the it’s departure from its long-standing policy and practice of defending net neutrality, while disregarding evidence on industry practices and harm to consumers and businesses.

In addition, the rule illegally preempts of state and local laws.

The states involved in the lawsuit are New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.