On Thursday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the FCC’s Title II reclassification of broadband services, calling it “a major question requiring clear congressional authorization.”
That’s the news. The FCC had previously decided in early 2024 that broadband internet providers should be classified as common carriers like telephone providers (this has been flopped back and forth since 2005). Providers did not like the ruling and sought to have the decision blocked before it could come into effect. The 6th Circuit Court obliged in June, saying more time and input were needed to decide the merits of the appeal. This week, it was decided it didn’t need that much time, and input wasn’t needed after all, at least not immediately.
Nobody should be surprised that an appeals court made a decision without hearing oral arguments from one side because that’s how America works. William Churchill once said, “Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business.” Truer words were never spoken.
You have a side. I have a side. Everyone has to pick a side. Here’s something to consider: neither side is right because laws are meant to serve the best interests of everyone. In a perfect world, partisan politics and lobbying efforts would be tossed aside while both sides worked together in the court to do what’s best for all of us.
In the real world, telecom providers went to a partisan court with a request to help them. It’s also an election year, which is likely why oral arguments have been scheduled for late October or early November—just ahead of the election—and blocking these changes hurts one side. Maybe the ruling is correct, and the FCC has no authority, and telecom providers should not have to follow these rules. Maybe not. I don’t know because I’m not a legal expert on this matter, and I was not allowed to listen to legal experts give any arguments on the matter, as was originally decided.
Regardless of what side you’re on, you should be upset
What I do know is that I’m distrustful, and you should be too. If not for this decision, pick one you disagree with and distrust that one instead. That’s a problem.
Here’s what I see: a decision that favored one side was made. A group of judges heavily skewed toward the other side has blocked that decision, saying we need to know more. Now that Harris’ official nomination has given both sides signs of life in the upcoming presidential election, knowing more isn’t required, and it’s just blocked for now. That’ll show ’em.
I don’t give a damn which side you’re on, and you shouldn’t give a damn which side I’m on. You should be upset over what looks like obvious partisan politics interfering with a decision that is supposed to benefit us all.
Our government can not make everyone happy because that’s impossible when we are so divided. What it can do is be transparent. In this case, we deserve to hear why the FCC’s rules were good for us and why they were not. This issue affects us all. It is about our ability to be informed and how much it will hurt our wallets. Your side deserves a chance to convince people on the other side.
Ideally, we wouldn’t be at each other’s throats about everything. I shouldn’t care if you don’t like gay people as long as you don’t infringe on their rights. I also shouldn’t care if you don’t want to bake them a damn cake because you don’t support them. Nobody at any level of government should be trying to make me care, and news providers should differentiate between news and opinion.
I’ll do that again — the news is that the 6th Circuit has temporarily blocked the FCC reclassification of broadband providers, often called net neutrality.
My opinion is that it’s all bullshit, and it looks like it was done to appease one bunch of loonies and defeat the other bunch of loonies. This happens when you let loonies appoint judges to lifetime appointments while having mechanisms in place to block those appointments until it’s convenient for your side.
I try to stay out of politics because I hate dealing with lunatics. One side isn’t going to agree with me. Respectful disagreement is cool, but unhinged lunacy is never far behind. I have better things to do than read the crap some internet asshole furiously shits out to share with everyone.
This time I’ll make an exception, and I want to piss everyone off. Your side sucks. My side sucks. We should want to make individual decisions and not follow party lines so much, regardless of why we are told we need to do it. Net neutrality means your internet provider is gonna charge you more. It also means you’re going to have better access to information and entertainment without some mega-corporation deciding to screw it up. You didn’t get to hear more from either party in this appeal.
You can ignore your side and think about what’s right for you. So do it.
