Wyden, others urge court to back FCC on ‘Open Internet’
Senator Wyden (D-Ore.) joined colleague Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Ranking Member Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) and 26 members of Congress Mondayin filing an Amicus Brief with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet rules.
The Amicus supports the FCC’s decision that broadband Internet access is a telecommunications service and lies at the heart of the Commission’s Title II authority to put in place strong Open Internet rules.
“The FCC has done precisely what Congress intended the Commission to do – classify broadband Internet access service according to its best understanding of the technology of the day, and how consumers use that technology,”write the members of Congress in their brief. “In light of the FCC’s findings – findings which are amply supported by evidence – this Court should uphold the FCC’s reasonable reclassification order.”
The members of Congress, several of whom were instrumental in enacting the Telecommunications Act of 1996, state in the Amicus that the plain language of the Act supports the FCC’s actions.
Congress crafted the definition of “telecommunications service” in the 1996 Act to make the term applicable to rapidly changing telecommunications technologies and markets on a technologically-neutral and forward-looking basis.
Congress intended to preserve the FCC’s authority to forestall threats to competition and innovation in telecommunications services, even as the technologies used to offer those services evolve over time.
Wydencalledon the FCC to put strong net neutrality rules in place by reclassifying broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act to strengthen the open Internet and consumer freedom.
Senators signing the Amicus are: Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Angus S. King, Jr. (I-Maine), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).
Other House members signing the Amicus are: Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Sam Farr (D-Calif.), Ral M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Michael M. Honda (D-Calif.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Jos E. Serrano (D-N.Y.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Nydia M. Velzquez (D-N.Y.)
