High-tech companies and states compete with the US government for internet neutrality

Tech companies and nearly two dozen US states clashed in federal court Friday over the repeal of net neutrality, a set of Obama-era rules aimed at preventing big internet providers to discriminate certain technologies and services.

The judges challenged the arguments advanced by both parties during a confrontation before a court of appeal in Washington.

State and corporate lawyers tried to persuade the three-judge court to reinstate the network neutrality regime introduced in 2015 but repealed in December 2017 on the order of a regulator appointed by President Donald Trump. Companies that challenge the FCC's action include Mozilla, developer of the Firefox web browser, and Vimeo, a video-sharing site.

The Internet neutrality rules prohibited cable companies, wireless networks and other broadband providers from preventing or slowing down the websites and applications of their choice, nor from charging to Netflix and other video services more to reach viewers faster.

The practice of slowing down transmission is known as "strangulation".

The Federal Communications Commission's action to push back the rules of neutrality "is a blow to the heart of the law on communication," said Pantelis Michalopoulos's lawyer, referring to the law of the Era of depression that created the FCC.

Information vs. telecom service

The FCC wrongly clbadified the Internet as an information service rather than a telecommunication service, citing Michalopoulos, who represents Mozilla and the other companies in the case.

Government lawyers, as well as major Internet providers such as AT & T, Verizon and Comcast, have advocated for the repeal of net neutrality.

Thomas Johnson, the FCC's general counsel, said the agency's "lite" regulatory system, requiring internet service providers to disclose their practices and operations, offers adequate guarantees. Internet – used more broadly to convey information – is different in nature According to Johnson, it should therefore be regulated as an information service and not be subject to the surveillance of the telephone companies by public services, ie he declares.

The politically charged issue arose from its origins as a technical challenge to become an anti-monopoly rallying point and even a hotbed of "resistance" to the Trump administration.

Once Trump took office, the neutrality of the internet became one of his first targets as part of government deregulation. The FCC president he appointed, Ajit Pai, made Net Neutrality a top priority.

On the other hand, support for the neutrality of the Internet comes from most of the same people who also criticize the giants of the data-mining technology that benefit from it. Politicians have strived to appear as consumers.

The Democrats' takeover of the House in the mid-term elections in November could revive efforts to embed net neutrality into federal law, even if Trump would likely veto such attempts.

At the US District Court of Columbia hearing, Judge Stephen Williams questioned Michalopoulos' claims that the FCC incorrectly clbadified the Internet as an information service. Telephone services also offer a range of products to customers, he said. On the issue of broadband providers charging premiums for faster service, said Williams, a large majority of consumers prefer cheaper and slower options, citing polls.

Opinion of the judges

The judges questioned the fact that the FCC was entitled to remove the 2015 rules and evade the application of the neutrality of the internet. Williams appears to have been sympathetic to the FCC's arguments, while Justice Patricia Millett spoke of possible legal remedies for corporations and states suing the agency, while Justice Robert Wilkins' vote was decisive, said Doug Brake, director of Broadband Policy and Spectrum Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank.

Judges might decide to repeal it or send it back to the FCC for a resumption if they have specific objections.

"Today, we fought for an open and free Internet that gives priority to consumers," said Denelle Dixon, chief operating officer of Mozilla, at the end of the year. ; hearing. "We think the FCC must follow the rules like everyone else."