Adding to the growing backlash among the public and members of Congress against the FCC’s party-line vote on Thursday to repeal net neutrality protections, nearly 20 state attorneys general have lined up to sue the FCC, calling the Republican-controlled agency’s move a violation of the law and a serious “threat to the free exchange of ideas.”
“The agency has completely failed to justify this decision and we will be suing to stand up for the free exchange of ideas and to keep the American people in control of internet access.”
—Maura Healey, Massachusetts Attorney General
“The FCC’s vote to rip apart net neutrality is a blow to New York consumers, and to everyone who cares about a free and open internet,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman—who is also investigating the flood of fake comments that “corrupted” the agency’s policymaking process—said in a statement announcing his intent to sue. “The FCC just gave Big Telecom an early Christmas present, by giving internet service providers yet another way to put corporate profits over consumers.”
Soon after Schneiderman’s announcement on Thursday, more than a dozen other state AGs followed suit, with both red and blue states joining the public repudiation of FCC chair Ajit Pai’s plan. The list of states planning to taking legal action against the FCC—which includes Mississippi, Hawaii, Maine, Vermont, and Illinois—continued to grow almost by the hour late Thursday and into Friday.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, one of the first to join Schneiderman’s planned multi-state suit, said in a statement that “Americans will pay more for the internet and will have fewer options” as a result of the FCC’s move.
Click Here: All Blacks Rugby Jersey
“The agency has completely failed to justify this decision and we will be suing to stand up for the free exchange of ideas and to keep the American people in control of internet access,” Healey concluded.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT