Washington, Jan 6 (AFP) The lobby group for some of themost powerful US tech firms said it would join the legalchallenge to the planned rollback of "net neutrality" rulesrequiring internet service providers to treat all onlinetraffic equally.
The Internet Association -- a group which includesGoogle, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, among others --announced it would support legal efforts to block the rollbackvoted last month by the Federal Communications Commission.
The association gave no specifics but suggested it wouldseek to intervene in lawsuits expected by several attorneysgeneral, including from Washington and New York states.
Internet Association president Michael Beckerman said theFCC action voted December 14 "defies the will of a bipartisanmajority of Americans and fails to preserve a free and openinternet."He said the association "intends to act as an intervenorin judicial action against this order and, along with ourmember companies, will continue our push to restore strong,enforceable net neutrality protections through a legislativesolution."Last month's vote capped a heated partisan debate and isjust the latest twist in a battle over more than a decade onrules governing internet service providers.
FCC chairman Ajit Pai, who pushed the latest effort, hasargued that the neutrality rule enacted in 2015 served tostifle investment and innovation in a fast-evolving sector.
But net neutrality backers have argued that clear rulesare needed to prevent internet service providers from blockingor throttling services or websites for competitive reasons,and that the rollback would increase the power of a fewdominant providers to control what users see online.
Lawsuits could not be filed until the FCC's order waspublished, which occurred this week. Some lawmakers have alsobegun efforts to invalidate the FCC's action.
The battle over net neutrality has raged for over adecade in the FCC and the courts, with both sides contendingthey represent "internet freedom."The 2015 net neutrality rules were backed by then-president Barack Obama and endorsed by a 3-2 Democraticmajority at the time. But the election of President DonaldTrump reversed the FCC party majority and it quickly reversedcourse.(AFP)AMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.