After Being AWOL From The Fight For Years, Google & Facebook To Fund Lawsuits Over Net Neutrality

from the fashionably-late dept

Fri, Jan 12th 2018 6:25am — Karl Bode

Not surprisingly, the Internet Association has stated that the organization intends to participate in the looming lawsuits against the FCC for its repeal of net neutrality. The group, which represents countless tech companies including Google, Amazon, Facebook, Etsy and more, stated that the organization will not only participate in the coming lawsuits (which should arrive shortly after the repeal hits the Federal Register), but would support a "legislative solution" to help make net neutrality permanent (though as we've noted, folks should be careful on that front):

"The final version of Chairman Pai’s rule, as expected, dismantles popular net neutrality protections for consumers. This rule defies the will of a bipartisan majority of Americans and fails to preserve a free and open internet. IA intends to act as an intervenor in judicial action against this order and, along with our member companies, will continue our push to restore strong, enforceable net neutrality protections through a legislative solution."

To be clear, that's a good thing. These upcoming lawsuits, which will focus on the FCC's blatant disregard for objective data and public interest, are going to need all the help they can get. Said suits will focus extensively on how Ajit Pai and the FCC ignored the nation's startups, the people who built the internet, and any and all objective data as it rushed to give a sloppy, wet kiss to the nation's entrenched telecom monopolies.

That said, several IA member companies' dedication to net neutrality has been anything but consistent. Google, while often touted as a "net neutrality advocate," hasn't truly supported the concept since 2009 or so. As the company pushed into fixed (Google Fiber) and wireless (Project Fi, Android) broadband, its interest in rules that truly protected consumers from duopoly market abuse in the sector magically disappeared. And Google worked with AT&T and Verizon to help craft FCC net neutrality protections in 2010 that were so packed with loopholes as to be largely useless (they didn't even cover wireless networks).

Other IA members like Facebook have actively worked to undermine net neutrality overseas as they attempt to corner the ad market in developing nations. Facebook received ample criticism for its behavior in India specifically, when the company tried to trick citizens into supporting Facebook's push for a zero-rated walled garden platform dubbed "Free Basics." India ultimately banned such zero rating efforts under its own net neutrality rules, supporting Mozilla's position that if Facebook is so concerned about the Indian poor, it should help fund access to the entire internet -- and not just a Facebook-curated walled garden.

Even Netflix, perhaps the most vocal and deep-pocketed support of net neutrality, has softened its position on the subject as it has grown more powerful. Company CEO Reed Hastings recently proclaimed that network neutrality was SOP (somebody else's problem) now that the company is large enough and wealthy enough to fight off anti-competitive behavior by the likes of AT&T, Verizon and Comcast:

"The Trump FCC is going to unwind the rules no matter what anybody says,” Hastings argues. He might believe that net neutrality is “important for society," but his company, Netflix, isn’t in trouble so it’s not going to get into the fight. “We had to carry the water when we were growing up and we were small," Hastings said. "Other companies have to be on that leading edge."

That's a painfully myopic read of the situation, and one Netflix has been forced to walk back from after ample criticism for its tone-deafness. Or at least, the company has been more vocal about its "support" of net neutrality on Twitter, for whatever that winds up being worth in the face of AT&T, Verizon and Comcast lobbying muscle.

All of that said, the IA has a broad roster of countless smaller members, like Etsy, who have been perfectly consistent about their support for net neutrality. That support remains completely intact, according to a statement released by the company:

"The FCC’s decision to overturn net neutrality rules was deeply disappointing for those of us who have fought so hard for the strong protections that enable millions of microbusinesses to start and grow online. Under the FCC’s new proposal, millions of small business, like Etsy’s 1.9 million sellers, could find themselves in the internet slow lane or blocked altogether."

Again, it's great that some of Facebook, Google and Netflix's money will be used to help fund the fight against the repeal. But if these Silicon Valley giants hadn't decided to take a nap during this latest fight to protect the rules, we might not be in this position in the first place.

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Filed Under: fcc, lawsuits, net neutrality
Companies: facebook, google, internet association

29 Comments

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JoeCool (profile), 12 Jan 2018 @ 6:39am

??
> network neutrality was SOP (somebody else's problem)

Uh, somebody else's problem is SEP.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 6:46am

TD has already stated that the Internet Association does NOT represent the internet, so why are we to think this lobbying group would fight for the interests of anyone other the large corporations which make up the most influential part of their organization?
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Ninja (profile), 12 Jan 2018 @ 6:53am

Re: ??
IWNMWQAH.

Indeed, we need more writing quality around here. /derp
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 6:58am

Why are you so surprised everybody turns into a spineless sack of shit once they reach the top, Karl? The elite of America are completely rancid, and until the actual problem is fixed this sort of "two-faced advocacy" pattern will repeat endlessly.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 7:08am

I'm not so sure about this
"But if these Silicon Valley giants hadn't decided to take a nap during this latest fight to protect the rules, we might not be in this position in the first place."

Perhaps if another administration was in office this would be so. But this administration, and its enablers in Congress, are determined to do what they want to do regardless of the facts, regardless of the law, regardless of ethics, regardless of public opinion, regardless of anything.

So while having some of the companies put their weight behind the push would be great, I doubt it would have made any difference. We all knew what the FCC would eventually do the moment the election was over. It was only a matter of time.
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PaulT (profile), 12 Jan 2018 @ 7:08am

Re:
...and your solution to this is...?
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 7:11am

Re: Re:
Believe in something besides the almighty dollar. Or eventually the world will buy you.
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Richard (profile), 12 Jan 2018 @ 7:13am

Net neutrality
Probably the best way to achieve that would be by a genuine free market, with multiple players, at the ISP level.

As I understand it this does not exist for most of the US.

The UK is better on that score - although we don't have true net neutrality (BT zero rates its own content on deals which are otherwise very limited in bandwidth for example).
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Vel the Enigmatic, 12 Jan 2018 @ 7:25am

Re: Re: Re:
Easy to say, difficult to do.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 12 Jan 2018 @ 7:28am

We're big enough to fight them off now, so the rest of you can fight it out.

On the upside as they shoved this crap through & can point out the the largest players sitting out the fight it'll make it that much easier to put more weights on the scale to help those poor telcos fight back to make sure they can demand higher fees from the big players.

Oh it was good enough to screw the smaller guys, but suddenly they care? It sounds like they just want to have the market protect them from having to pay the costs of doing business to these poor isps, so we've passed a rule requiring them to put 5% of their yearly profits into a fund for the use of the ISPs... on top of their fees for having access to consumers at reasonable speeds.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 7:39am

Re:
Why are we to think that large corporations would not be concerned about their customer's ability to continue being customers?
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 7:41am

Re: Re: Re:
Ummm - I do and yet I am still being ... "purchased".
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 7:43am

Re:
"spineless sack of shit"

More like a worthless greedy mofo

"and until the actual problem is fixed"

What is the actual problem? I have my own opinions but thought I'd ask about yours.
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PaulT (profile), 12 Jan 2018 @ 7:50am

Re: Re: Re:
...and your method to get this to actually happen among those at the top of the heap in a capitalist society is...?
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 8:30am

Re: Net neutrality
The free market will never happen in the US till the grid is owned by the government. ISPs have to run their own wires which is why start up ISPs don't happen anymore.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 8:39am

Re: Net neutrality
BT offers a capped connection for slightly less than an uncapped connection. They also offer, as a separate package, a subscription TV service. So even if you take the capped service, you also pay for the TV subscription as a separate item. So their content is not exactly zero rated, just something that you pay extra for if you want it.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 8:43am

Re: Re: Net neutrality
There never will be a free market no matter who "owns" the poles/grid/whatever. btw, in the us, taxes paid for the poles and the right of way upon which they rest. The government owning same does nothing to address the issue.
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Toom1275 (profile), 12 Jan 2018 @ 9:19am

Re: ??
Network neutrality should be SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) though.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2018 @ 12:15pm

What a convenient PR stunt now that they can be comfortably sure it's too late to actually do anything about it.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2018 @ 6:40am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Fight tooth and nail against the system. Be willing to die for it, if necessary.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2018 @ 6:44am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
All it requires is for everyone to get up, off their asses, stop fingerbanging their phones night and day ("Likes" and "reTweets" actually mean fuckall), and get out in the streets to raise some hell.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Jan 2018 @ 6:26pm

Re:
Its not too late and you should not give up.
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The Wanderer (profile), 13 Jan 2018 @ 7:14pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Specifics rather than vague generalities might be nice.
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Richard (profile), 14 Jan 2018 @ 10:44am

Re: Re: Net neutrality
Sorry - you are wrong - I have a cheap capped subscription with BT as part of the phone deal but with free access to BT sport (which is actually useless at the moment because the bandwidth on BT is not good enough). I have another provider (wireless with much better bandwidth) so BT is only a backup for me.
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Zenon ., 14 Jan 2018 @ 6:39pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: .
You do have a point here
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jan 2018 @ 7:48pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
You mean like the guy who keeps posting "Every nation gets the government it deserves" over and fucking over?
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PaulT (profile), 15 Jan 2018 @ 12:52am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Vague platitudes and unrealistic demands, got it.

When the dust settles from your violent retribution, how do you plan to ensure that the people who replace the current "elite" don't do the exact same thing?

You have no idea, do you, you just like the way words sound in your head despite the fact that they'll never happen in the real world.
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PaulT (profile), 15 Jan 2018 @ 12:53am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
It would, which is what I was poking at. But, he has nothing, just random words to make him feel superior in his own inferior mind.
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roebling (profile), 15 Jan 2018 @ 3:58am

When Big Business Wants Government Help...
When the richest businesses want political help, it isn't to "level the playing field". Businesses support regulations that BLOCK competition, snowflakes.
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