Big Telecom Drops Its Legal Assault On Maine Over Broadband Privacy Rules

When it comes to manhandling US regulators and gutting telecom industry oversight, the nation's biggest telecom monopolies have had an impressive five year run.

Under Trump, they managed to lobotomize FCC consumer protection authority, dismantle federal net neutrality rules, dismantle media consolidation rules and get all of their planned megamergers approved, kill off broadband privacy protections, and get paid while doing it in the form of a giant tax cut in exchange for doing absolutely nothing.

Under Biden, they've managed to derail the nomination of a popular and qualified FCC Commissioner in Gigi Sohn, ensuring that the agency remains in partisan gridlock for at least two years. They've also very much enjoyed (and routinely encouraged) the myopic US policy focus on Big Tech."

One space they haven't had as much luck is in bullying the handful of states that actually want to engage in consumer protection in the wake of federal dysfunction and apathy.

Like in Maine, where ISPs have been forced to drop their lawsuit against the state after it passed one of the toughest privacy laws in the country in 2019 (requiring that consumers opt in to data collection and monetization). Courts continually shot down the telecom industry's arguments, forcing the industry to give up the fight:

The groups, which include the country's biggest telecommunications providers, filed to dismiss the lawsuit on Sept. 2, said Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey. Frey said the state's privacy law held up despite the efforts of an army of industry lawyers organized against us," and now other states can follow Maine's lead.

Big ISPs like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast had argued that the Maine privacy rules violated their First Amendment rights, but even a Trump-appointed judge laughed the argument out of court, claiming the industry was trying to utilize a shoot the moon" (throw any random argument at the wall and hope something sticks) strategy.

US telecom giants also lost their lawsuit against California to stop the state from embracing net neutrality rules, after courts repeatedly noted the industry had no ground to stand on.

The industry had convinced the Trump FCC to include language in its net neutrality repeal trying to ban states from protecting consumers, but courts found the federal government couldn't abdicate its authority over consumer protection, then turn around and dictate what others could or couldn't do.

Granted for every California and Maine that occasionally attempts to protect broadband consumers from privacy and net neutrality violations, there are three or four states where lawmakers couldn't care less. In most states, telecom giants literally control every last policy initiative that enters and exits state legislatures, and it's usually pretty clearly reflected in state broadband statistics.