Consumer Groups File Appeal Over ISPs

Cable World, Nov 11, 2002

Byline: Alicia Mundy

Consumer groups represented by Media Access Project filed a petition in the Federal Appeals Court in Washington, D.C., last week over the Federal Communications Commission's decision not to force AT&T and Comcast to reveal the details of their ISP agreement with AOL Time Warner. In the 3-1 decision, only Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps dissented. Harold Feld of the Media Access Project said, "I think we have a strong case with this court," noting that the court had previously forced the FCC to disclose "relevant material facts" in other mergers. The Media Access petition also asked the court to stop the FCC from completing its action reviewing the merger until the court decided on the ISP agreement issue. ISP Earthlink, which has also asked for the information, declined to say if it is also going to court.