QuickWire: College and Library Groups Petition FCC on Net Neutrality

A coalition of seven university and library organizations on Tuesday filed comments asking the Federal Communications Commission to preserve net neutrality. The comments came less than a week after 11 university and library groups—including six of the seven that signed onto Tuesday’s filing—released a set of net-neutrality principles establishing a similar position.

Tuesday’s comments go further, detailing specific legal action the FCC could take to maintain an open Internet. The groups say they would prefer that Internet-service providers be reclassified as common carriers, which would make them subject to the same kind of regulation as telephone companies. But the groups also identify an alternative route to net neutrality should the commission choose to avoid the common-carrier approach, which some have called the “nuclear option.”

The filing is an official response to FCC rules proposed in May. Tuesday is the final day of the public-comment period on the proposal.

The seven organizations that signed onto the comments are:

• American Library Association
• Association of American Universities
• Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities
• Association of Research Libraries
• Chief Officers of State Library Agencies
• Council of Independent Colleges
• Educause