Democratic-Led States Go to Court to Reinstate Net Neutrality

A coalition of 22 Democratic state attorneys general is asking a U.S. court to reinstate the so-called net neutrality rules repealed by the Federal Communications Commission last month.

The FCC move to rescind the Obama era rules, which barred Internet service providers from giving preferential treatment to some web traffic, while slowing the delivery of other content, was dubbed “restoring internet freedom.”

The Republican-led commission voted 3-to-2 to remove those prohibitions over objections from its Democratic members. In so doing, the FCC gave up most authority over broadband providers such as AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. and handed enforcement to other agencies. The new policy won’t take effect until published in the Federal Register, the government’s official compendium of regulations.

The suing attorneys general called the change “arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion,” in a petition filed Tuesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. They acknowledged their request might be premature, but if it’s not then they want the court to declare the FCC move unlawful and to set it aside.

New York and California are leading the group of states in the lawsuit.

Tina Pelkey, an FCC spokeswoman, declined to comment on the filing.

Software maker Mozilla Corp. filed a separate lawsuit Tuesday to block the FCC change, saying in a blog entry that “ending net neutrality could end the internet as we know it.”