More Groups File Suit Over FCC's Net Neutrality Rules

This should keep the lawyers at the Federal Communications Commission busy: Three more groups have filed lawsuits against the FCC's controversial net neutrality rules, which will go into effect Nov. 20. Like the liberal public interest group Free Press, which filed suit on Wednesday, the grass roots organizations that will be the plaintiffs in this case support net neutrality, but not the FCC's rules, which are tougher on wired services than on wireless.  

All three organizations suing the FCC—the Media Mobilizing Project in Philadelphia, Mountain Area Information Network, and Access Humboldt—are being represented by the Media Access Project, a liberal group. 

In a press release, Access Humboldt Executive Director Sean McLaughlin said the FCC's rules are "too weak... [they] do not provide the strong foundation needed for truly open, innovative networks."

On the other side of the net neutrality debate, Verizon is expected to file a suit of its own in which it will argue that the FCC had no authority to adopt the rules in the first place. Both Verizon and MetroPCS filed soon after the rules were approved, but the case was tossed in April because the rules had not yet been published in the Federal Register. They were finally published last Friday.