Internet Action Day Picks Up More Supporters

Fight for the Future, which is fighting for a return of Title II-based network neutrality rules, says it has new sign-ups for the Feb. 27 #OneMoreVote advocacy day Feb. 27.

It says that Tumblr, Patreon, GitHub and DuckDuckGo are the latest Web platforms (Etsy and Vimeo are already signed on, for example) who have agreed to help push Congress to nullify the Dec. 14 vote to roll back Title II and bright-line rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization, and a general conduct standard to get to other conduct that could violate network openness principles.

Their immediate goal is to get one more Senator--they have an even 50--to support the Congressional Review Act resolution nullifying that Dec. 14 decision. "The February 27 push is laser focused on securing the final vote needed to pass the resolution in the Senate," said FFTF. They will then take a wider shot at getting the 218 supporters (a simple majority) it needs to force a House vote.

The CRA resolution has not yet been introduced because it can't be until the rules are published in the Federal Register--they had not been at press time, though a copy has been sent to the Senate and House.

Sources: FCC Sends Net Neutrality Order to Hill

That triggers a 60-day window for Congress to repeal the vote, as well as the window for opponents of the FCC's deregulatory move to challenge it in federal court. The CRA is an unusual move that got more usual in this Republican Congress and its votes to roll back various Obama-era regs, including the FCC's broadband privacy framework.

The CRA route to nullifying the rule dereg is a big long shot, with the President unlikely to nullify a move he has publicly supported, though consistency from the White House is anything but a sure bet as well.

Alternately, legislation to codify some new regs is supported by both ISPs and activists, though one big sticking point is whether that includes prohibiting paid prioritization, which many Democrats favor and Republicans see as a nonstarter.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.