Today, New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) joined over 80 public interest, social justice, and grassroots advocacy groups in asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reclassify broadband service under Title II of the 1996 Communications Act. This position is consistent with OTI’s previous statements on reclassification and comes at a critical moment for the FCC. Two weeks ago, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the important Open Internet Rules (implementing the fundamental principles of “Net Neutrality”) that were designed to protect consumers’ ability to access the content of their choosing without Internet service providers determining winners and losers online.
While some groups who already opposed the Open Internet Rules have characterized the FCC’s authority in light of the D.C. Circuit’s decision as “expansive,” the decision prevents the FCC from implementing Net Neutrality protections in a meaningful and clear way without classification of the transmission component of broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service. Prominent news outlets like the New York Times and USA today, respected communications scholars, and advocacy groups agree.
Beyond Net Neutrality, the FCC has a tremendous amount of other work to do, and it needs clear legal authority to do so. The authority that the court preserved under Section 706 of the Communications Act may provide certain pathways to do some of that work, but without reclassifying broadband service, the FCC will continue to run into the same legal obstacles that caused the Open Internet Rules to be overturned. As the joint letter states, “[t]he court’s decision provides a road map for the agency to move in a positive direction and reclaim its authority to protect the open Internet.”
The FCC now has its road map. And it has a clear directive from a wide range of stakeholders to reclassify broadband service under Title II of the Communications Act.
Read the full text of the letter (pdf).
