Success Of Net Neutrality Lawsuit Depends On Role Of Precedent In FCC Decisions

Following the controversial Federal Communications Commission’s decision to repeal network neutrality, a coalition of 22 attorneys general, including Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, filed a petition for review of the decision in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Jan 16. However, professor of information systems management at Carnegie Mellon University Rahul Telang said he believes that the FCC will be successful. Rahul explained that in the initial installation of net neutrality in 2015, the Obama administration FCC exercised their right to label the internet as a telecommunication service, which requires heavy regulation. The current FCC has done the same thing, instead labeling the internet as an information system, which is lightly regulated. “If you just look at the precedence, I think that FCC is likely to prevail,” Rahul said. “However, I guess if these attorney generals [sic] can convince [the judges] that net neutrality is really fundamental to the welfare of consumers and businesses, and that the FCC is undermining that, who knows?”