Proponents of net neutrality file three lawsuits challenging FCC’s regulations

Proponents of net neutrality have filed three more lawsuits against the Federal Communications Commission’s net-neutrality regulations, arguing they do not go far enough and should apply to wireless as well as wireline Internet Service Providers.

Media Access Project Policy Director Andrew Jay Schwartzman told Hillicon on Thursday that his organization is acting as counsel for three groups filing petitions for review: Media Mobilizing Project in Philadelphia’s 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Mountain Area Information Network in Richmond, Va.’s 4th Circuit and Access Humboldt in San Francisco’s 9th Circuit.

“The principal concern is that we don’t think the FCC acted properly when it differentiated between wireline and wireless ISPs,” Schwartzman said. “We think wireless providers should also be subject to the rules.”

Schwartzman said more lawsuits could be forthcoming in addition to the separate legal challenges filed by Free Press and an expected challenge from Verizon that will likely argue that the FCC lacks the statutory authority to enforce the rules.

Schwartzman said his organization’s clients will be asking the court to direct the FCC to revisit the question and extend the rules to wireless. Verizon — and potentially other ISPs — will ask the court to throw the rules out entirely, as the court did to the FCC’s previous attempt to enforce net neutrality last year.

Groups looking to challenge the rules can either file their petitions in the respective federal appeals court for their principal places of business or in the D.C. Circuit, which has jurisdiction over cases involving certain federal agencies, including the FCC. Under law, all of the petitions filed within 10 days of the issuance of an order are sent to a multidistrict panel of the judicial conference, which holds a lottery to determine which court will hear the case.