Intervenors Back FCC Net Neutrality Order; Full Service Network Urges Rehearing
Intervenors defended the FCC net neutrality order against petitions for rehearing a court panel's June ruling upholding the order. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit twice before disagreed with FCC net neutrality decisions and provided "valuable guidance"…
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the agency "faithfully and correctly applied," said a joint response (in Pacer) Monday from Cogent Communications, Dish Network, Free Press, Incompas, Netflix, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and other intervenors in USTelecom v. FCC, No. 15-1063. Industry petitioners again attacked the rules even though the panel ruling doesn't conflict "with precedent or any issue of exceptional importance," they wrote. "As far as Intervenors can determine, this Court has not, in recent memory, ever granted rehearing to address such fact-bound and case-specific complaints." In another response (in Pacer), Full Service Network, which was denied in its challenge to FCC forbearance relief, asked the court to reconsider the panel ruling and precedents on which it relied. FSN said the ruling conflicted with other precedents and raised exceptional issues "because of the massive judicial expansion of agency authority inherent in that decision." Calling itself "the skunk at the party," FSN said the statute required the FCC to classify broadband as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act, but the commission decision to forbear from much ISP regulation was "unreasonable." The FCC and DOJ recently defended the order (see 1610030029).