NHMC: We're Suing FCC Over Net Neutrality Rule Rollback

The National Hispanic Media Coalition is not waiting for the FCC's Dec. 14 vote rolling back net neutrality regs to declare it is filing suit against that decision, which FCC chairman Ajit Pai has suggested is pretty much a done deal--he has two more Republican votes, just as his predecessor had the two Democratic votes to reclassify ISPs as Title II in the 2015 Open Internet order party line vote.

NHMC said Wednesday (Dec. 13) that the rollback "is a frontal attack on Latinos and other communities of color," and it is already counter-attacking.

"NHMC will challenge the FCC's repeal in court and continue to fight for Latinos and people of color for whom access to an open Internet is a basic human right," said NHMC VP and general counsel Carmen Scurato.

While FCC chairman Ajit Pai says rolling back the rules and reclassifying ISPs out from under common carrier obligations will boost broadband deployment, NHMC sees it very differently. "By handing over control of the Internet to powerful corporations, this Trump FCC will stymie our voices and our opportunities," Scurato said.

NHMC suggested some of its legal strategy, saying the FCC is making the move without even looking at over 50,000 comments in the docket, which it calls a "fatal error in the process."

NHMC will likely be joined by many other groups net neutrality groups that will be looking for help from the court to redo the FCC's undo.

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.