Can We Agree on Ground Rules for Debate?
Steve Goodman has been practicing telecommunications law since 1983, when he began working at the Federal Communications Commission. He now represents a wide variety of clients, including telecommunications equipment manufacturers, satellite service providers and international carriers.
At its meeting on December 14, 2017, the FCC adopted its latest net neutrality decision on a party-line vote, labeling its action “Restoring Internet Freedom.” This time around, the Commission almost completely undid the previous Commission’s 2015 Open Internet Order.
The FCC decision re-reclassified internet access service as an “information service” (thus rejecting Title II regulatory authority), eliminated all of the Open Internet Order rules except for disclosure obligations, abdicated primary responsibility for enforcing net neutrality to the Federal Trade Commission, and preempted any state net neutrality regulation.