The Washington state Attorney General’s Office intends to file a lawsuit over the Federal Communications Commission vote to repeal net neutrality.
The five members of the FCC Thursday voted 3-2 along party lines to scrap Obama-era rules meant to prevent broadband companies such as Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon from exercising more control over what people watch and see on the internet.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson immediately announced his intent to file a legal challenge, a day after Governor Jay Inslee said that he and other state leaders will take steps to protect consumers regardless of the outcome. Ferguson says allowing internet service providers to discriminate based on content undermines a free and open internet, adding that the FCC vote will seriously harm consumers, innovation, and small businesses.
The current rules were approved on a party-line vote by the FCC in 2015. A federal appeals court upheld the rules in 2016 after broadband providers sued.
Now Republicans are the majority on the commission. Big telecom companies have said the regulations could undermine investment in broadband and introduced uncertainty about what were acceptable business practices.
Net-neutrality advocates say undoing the rules makes it harder for the government to crack down on internet providers who act against consumer interests, and will harm innovation. A few bills have already been introduced in Olympia seeking to prohibit internet service providers from violating net neutrality principles.
The legislative session begins next month. (Washington Attorney General, AP, Washington Post)
