22 US State Attorneys-General File Lawsuits Against FCC to Bring Back Net Neutrality

Once the U.S. communications regulator, FCC, decided to abolish net neutrality by ramming through its highly-unpopular 'Restore Internet Freedom' policies in spite of astringent protests from netizens and dire warnings from leading technologists like Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Vint Cerf and Steve Wozniak among others, the battle lines had conspicuously been drawn.

On the one paw, citizen's rights groups and tech companies were upward in arms over what they felt was a clear attempt at destroying the open up cyberspace that we know and love, while on the other, telecom operators, large cable and other ISPs were overjoyed at finally beingness freed from the shackles of the Obama-era net neutrality regulations.

While the attorneys-general of several U.Due south. states were likewise expected to throw their full weight backside the effort by netizens to get back the open and costless internet, the chicken is only now coming home to roost, with as many as 22 attorneys-general from around the state filing a lawsuit to cease the Ajit Pai-led FCC from going ahead and implementing its highly-controversial policies.

Announcing his decision to bring together the lawsuit to protect cyberspace neutrality, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman released a statement, saying that, "An open up cyberspace — and the free substitution of ideas it allows — is critical to our democratic process". According to him, "The repeal of internet neutrality would turn internet service providers into gatekeepers — allowing them to put profits over consumers while controlling what we see, what nosotros do, and what we say online".

The lawsuit, brought in front of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, was filed on behalf of 21 states and the District of Columbia. Non-profit internet powerhouse Mozilla has also filed a carve up lawsuit against the FCC, while other lawsuits are also expected in the coming days, notably, from consumer advancement group Public Noesis, which has too filed a protective petition at the same court to review the FCC'due south controversial society.