Activist Group Challenges New Net Neutrality Rules

The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) new rules maintaining Net neutrality have been challenged from an unlikely source.

Though major telecommunications firms don't like the concept, they have yet to express their objections in court. Instead, the activist group Free Press has been the first to file a legal challenge, a week after the Federal Register published the new rules.

The group filed the action in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, asking for a review of the FCC's December 2010 Open Internet order. Free Press is challenging what it called “the arbitrary nature” of rule provisions that provide less protection for mobile wireless Internet access than they do for wired connections.

"When the FCC first proposed the Open Internet rules, they came with the understanding that there is only one Internet, no matter how people choose to reach it,” said Matt Wood, Policy Director of Free Press. “The final rules provide some basic protections for consumers, but do not deliver on the promise to preserve openness for mobile Internet access. They fail to protect wireless users from discrimination, and they let mobile providers block innovative applications with impunity.”

No discrimination

Under the FCC's Net neutrality rules, networks are not allowed to discriminate against content, charging one provider more than another because of the nature of the content. But because telecommunications companies argued wireless networks, by their nature, have limits on their bandwidth, the rules provide more leeway for managing wireless networks. Wood says the distinction isn't real.

"Our challenge will show that there is no evidence in the record to justify this arbitrary distinction between wired and wireless Internet access,” he said. “The disparity that the FCC's rules create is unjust and unjustified. And it's especially problematic because of the increasing popularity of wireless, along with its increasing importance for younger demographics and diverse populations who rely on mobile devices as their primary means for getting online.”

The FCC proposed the rules last December. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowsk said they were based on more than 100,000 comments collected from all types of interested parties.

Major network providers have been staunchly opposed to most Net neutrality provisions. Broadband providers pushed to include language in the policy that would not encumber them when it comes to managing their networks or charging different prices for different levels of service. Wireless network providers objected to being lumped in with wired networks under any Net neutrality rules.