Court rules against AT&T, closing FTC regulation loophole

Court rules against AT&T, closing FTC regulation loophole

6 years ago
Anonymous $gcegwZ91io

https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/26/court-rules-against-att-closing-ftc-regulation-loophole/

A federal court has ruled against AT&T in a long-running case that found itself tied up in the net neutrality debate. AT&T had argued that the 2015 FCC order classifying it as a common carrier let it off the hook in a case brought against it by the FTC — which has no authority over common carriers. The case has been heard and reheard, but hopefully this judgment is the last.

The FTC suit alleged that AT&T illegally throttled mobile users with “unlimited” plans between 2011 and 2014. As the case was being heard — slowly — the 2015 net neutrality order came into effect, changing AT&T’s broadband offerings from “information services” to “telecommunications services,” a much-debated distinction you can read more about here.