New York City has filed an amicus brief with 27 other local governments and mayors in support of the petitioners in the case against the Federal Communications Commission order ending net neutrality.

The brief led by Zachary Carter, corporation counsel for the New York City law department, was filed Monday Aug. 27 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the petition for review titled Mozilla Corp. et al vs. Federal Communications Commission and the United States of America 18-1051(L) and consolidated cases. The FCC order ending the Obama-era regulation requiring all internet traffic to be treated equally took effect in June. The cities' brief in the petition asks the court to vacate the preemption provision of the FCC order. Oral arguments are not yet scheduled in the case.

Here's the full brief:

Other cities signing onto the brief include Ithaca, Syracuse and Buffalo, N.Y., as well as Alexandria, Virginia; Baltimore; Boston; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Newark, New Jersey; Chicago; Cook County, Illinois; Houston; Princeton, New Jersey; Oakland, California; San Jose, California; Seattle; Portland, Oregon and Tallahassee, Florida, among others.

Zachary Carter

“This new FCC order improperly allows internet service providers to become gatekeepers of web-based municipal communications that amici cities increasingly rely on to provide core government services,” Carter said in a statement. “This policy is not just misguided and harmful, but unlawful. Congress has not authorized the FCC to give private companies license to impair cities' ability to serve their residents reliably and promptly in the internet age.”

The cities' brief was filed a week after Mozilla Corp. and other internet-dependent companies filed a brief in support of a lawsuit filed earlier this year by New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood and attorneys general of 22 other states and Washington, D.C., against the FCC for eliminating net neutrality.

NYAG Underwood and Web Companies File New Briefs in Net Neutrality Case

Last week, as part of the states' brief in the lawsuit, Santa Clara County Fire Department chief alleged that Verizon reduced speeds on their data service as they were battling wildfires, impeding their ability to fight the fires and endangering public safety. Verizon initially claimed that the problem was a customer service issue, but later pledged to introduce a new data plan for first responders “to ensure that it never happens again,”according to a statement issued by a senior executive.

The cities' brief claims the FCC order will harm cities and counties by preventing them from addressing similar problems from ISPs blocking or slowing speeds, called “throttling,” on web-based services, potentially delaying police, fire and other emergency services from responding to emergencies. Among the types of systems that could be affected, the brief says, are traffic management systems that convey information about public transportation and road travel. The brief also claims the end of net neutrality could harm tax and other payment systems.

It also claims there “is no clear statement in Title I of the Telecommunications Act authorizing the FCC to preempt state and local measures to preserve municipalities' use of the internet” and that “the FCC's assertion of preemption in this area blurs the clear delineation of accountability for the provision of government services.”

“The FCC has allowed large corporations to hold government, individuals, and small businesses hostage by preventing equal access to internet services,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “Cities across the country are standing together to oppose this discriminatory order and protect the fundamental right to a free and open internet.”

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