Who saw this coming? (Oh, right: everyone.) Verizon has taken umbrage with certain aspects of Net Neutrality, and has taken the rather predictable tract of challenging the FCC’s authority in order to get out of complying with the rules. It’s nothing more than a simple case of if you can’t win an argument based on its own merit attack the credibility of your adversary. Verizon isn’t too keen on the provision that would force it to treat all data on its network equally, so it’s going to court to make sure it doesn’t have to.
Verizon, while claiming to be “committed to preserving an open Internet” (whatever that means), says that it’s “deeply concerned by the FCC’s assertion of broad authority for sweeping new regulation of broadband networks and the Internet itself.” Note the presence of the word “sweeping,” which is designed to make it seem like the sky is falling. Sweeping new regulations? What kind of evil agenda is at work here?
You know, making it so that ISPs don’t treat you and your data like dirt. Such an evil agenda, I know.
Verizon has taken its complaint to the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. That’s the same court that said the FCC didn’t have the authority to make any sort of Net Neutrality rules, so perhaps Verizon is hoping the court will see things its way.
Meanwhile, the FCC says Net Neutrality rests upon solid legal ground, something NYU Law School has suggested may not actually be the case.
It’s best to keep a skeptical eye trained on any company that claims to be looking out for your interests.
In fact, I still don’t know if I’ve seen any coherent argument against the requirement that ISPs treat all data equally? How, exactly, does that hurt consumers?