ACLU Brief Filed

The American Civil Liberties Union, represented by members of the Cyberlaw Clinic, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Supreme Court supporting open access to cable Internet lines. The case challenges an FCC determination that cable Internet service is not a "telecommunications service" presumptively subject to the sort of common carrier regulations historically applied to telephone service. The brief lays out the ways in which cable companies can control their customers' Internet experience and prevent them from switching to a viable alternative broadband provider, and argues that without meaningful consumer choice, monopoly providers of cable lines will be able to interfere with the free speech and privacy of Internet users. Since the FCC failed to adequately weigh the right of Internet users to have access to the kind of competitive ISP marketplace that helped make the Internet a potent forum for unfettered expression, the brief argues, its decision should be overturned by the Court.Download brief.