New York AG to sue FCC over net neutrality repeal

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Thursday that he is suing to block the end of net neutrality rules. 

Schneiderman’s announcement came moments after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted in favor of abolishing the rules.

“The FCC just gave Big Telecom an early Christmas present, by giving internet service providers yet another way to put corporate profits over consumers,” Schneiderman said in a statement. {mosads}

The New York attorney general had been a heavy critic of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to roll back net neutrality, prior to the vote. He, along with other state attorneys general and members of Congress, had argued that the agency should delay its vote on scrapping net neutrality because of the millions of fake comments he found that were filed during the FCC’s call for public feedback on the proposal.

I will sue to stop the FCC’s illegal rollback of #netneutrality. New Yorkers and all Americans deserve a free and open internet. pic.twitter.com/BNW7TDsp4z

— Eric Schneiderman (@AGSchneiderman) December 14, 2017

The FCC declined to postpone its vote on net neutrality and approved Pai’s proposal to scrap the rules in a 3-2 vote down party lines, favoring Republicans.

“Today’s new rule would enable ISPs to charge consumers more to access sites like Facebook and Twitter and give them the leverage to degrade [the] high quality of video streaming until and unless somebody pays them more money. Even worse, today’s vote would enable ISPs to favor certain viewpoints over others,” Schneiderman argued in a statement on the decision.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson also announced that he would sue to block the end of net neutrality rules on Thursday, releasing a similar statement.

Pai and other Republicans at the FCC and in Congress argue that the rules will help bolster investment in broadband infrastructure, allowing companies like Verizon and AT&T to provide, faster, cheaper internet to consumers.

Updated at 1:55 p.m.