Top tech US lobby group to join fight for net neutrality

Washington: The lobby group for some of the most powerful US tech firms said it would join the legal challenge to the planned rollback of “net neutrality” rules requiring Internet service providers to treat all online traffic equally.

The Internet Association – which includes Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft – announced it would support efforts to block the rollback voted by the Federal Communications Commission.

The association gave no specifics but suggested it would seek to intervene in lawsuits expected by several attorneysgeneral, including from Washington and New York states.

Internet Association president Michael Beckerman said the FCC action voted Dec 14 “defies the will of a bipartisan majority of Americans and fails to preserve a free and open Internet”.

He said on Friday that the association “intends to act as an interve nor 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”.

Last month’s vote capped a heated partisan debate and is just the latest twist in a battle over more than a decade on rules governing Internet service providers.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai, who pushed the latest effort, had argued that the neutrality rule enacted in 2015 served to stifle investment and innovation in an otherwise fastevolving sector.

But net neutrality backers have argued that clear rules are needed to prevent Internet service providers from blocking or throttling services or websites for competitive reasons, and that the rollback would increase the power of a few dominant providers to control what users see online.