Net Neutrality Repeal Seen Unlikely to Lose in Court or Congress; Web Giants' Tactics Knocked
The FCC net neutrality repeal "is well crafted" and "should fare well" in court, said Raymond James analyst Frank Louthan in an investor note Thursday after hosting a telecom policy symposium in Washington. He said judges gave the prior FCC…
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"significant" deference on its decisions, and "the current FCC should be given the same to adjust the rules." Even if a Congressional Review Act resolution to disapprove the current FCC order passes the Senate, it's unlikely to pass the House or be signed into law by President Donald Trump, Louthan wrote. "[T]he CRA actions and future similar stunts are unlikely to be effective and the legal appeal should be the final word in this chapter," he said. "The longer-term impact over the net neutrality fight is how it poisons the well for other potential telecom legislation in Congress for the foreseeable future." Louthan was skeptical of "meaningful infrastructure investment" taking place this year, despite FCC and congressional efforts. Democratic and Republican lawmakers "could serve the public if they actually worked together to forge a net neutrality compromise," blogged CCMI telecom consultant Andrew Regitsky, who also doubted CRA disapproval. "However, it should be pretty clear to most Americans by now that members of both political parties care mostly about being re-elected and getting majorities for their party. Any public benefits that arise during this self-serving process appear purely coincidental." Web "giants" are trying to preserve their regulatory advantage by joining, through the Internet Association, legal challenges to the FCC order, blogged Free State Foundation senior fellow Theodore Bolema. "Regardless of how much Internet Association members like Google and Amazon may claim they want to bring back 'net neutrality' to protect consumers, a significant impact of their actions is to try to re-impose regulation to protect themselves from ISP competition," he wrote. "If they succeed, the result will be to keep more stringent regulations on their ISP competitors. To the extent that regulation of providers of services in the Internet ecosystem is needed, it at least should be a somewhat uniform enforcement regime, not one so disparate that ISPs are regulated in a much more heavy-handed manner than Internet web giants."