Free Press Considering Court Challenge to Net Neutrality Rules
Free Press may challenge the FCC’s net neutrality rules after they are published in The Federal Register, incoming Executive Director Craig Aaron said in an interview. Aaron will replace Josh Silver in mid-April as head of the group, which played a big part in the net neutrality debate.
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"It’s not out of the question,” Aaron said of a court challenge to the rules approved by a divided commission Dec. 21. “I don’t think we've decided exactly what we're going to do yet. We're also watching the courts and how they respond to Verizon and MetroPCS. … We're definitely keeping all of our options on the table as far as trying to get the strongest rules possible.” Aaron said Free Press will also be active on the Hill and watch closely how the first complaints filed at the FCC are handled.
Because the FCC’s agenda is unclear, Aaron said, he can’t comment on how Chairman Julius Genachowski is doing of late. “I haven’t seen things where I say, ‘Oh, this commission is going on a whole new direction,'” Aaron said. Free Press was a strong critic of the chairman on net neutrality and approval of Comcast’s purchase of control of NBC Universal. “We're going to continue to be honest and aggressive,” he said. “No matter who is in that chair, if we feel like they're not doing what is in the public interest, we're not going to be afraid to speak out about that. … When we think he’s going in the wrong direction, we don’t hesitate to make noise about it -- sometimes a lot of noise.”
Asked whether Free Press’s emphasis will change, Aaron said, “The short answer is we're going to continue what we've been building on” under Silver. “New issues will certainly come up,” he said. “We've been talking a lot about net neutrality for a couple of years and that will certainly continue to be part of what we're doing."
A likely emphasis will be public television and National Public Radio, Aaron said. “The funding part is in the news,” he said. “We need to find long-term solutions that get away from this annual appropriations dance.” Aaron said, “Building strength and reaching out to people outside the Beltway is going to be incredibly important,” but that “does mean moving a way from the parts” of the inside-the-Beltway “work that we do.”