AT&T wants to settle with FTC to avoid unlimited data throttling lawsuit
05/31/2018 2:59 pm

AT&T has given up its years-long quest to cripple the Federal Trade Commission's authority to regulate broadband providers.

AT&T had been trying to limit the FTC's authority since October 2014, when the FTC sued AT&T for promising unlimited data to wireless customers and then throttling their speeds by as much as 90 percent.

With AT&T having ruled out a Supreme Court appeal, the FTC can finally pursue its case against AT&T and try to secure refunds for affected customers. AT&T's decision also means that traditional phone companies will have to face some net neutrality oversight from the FTC after the Federal Communications Commission finalizes its net neutrality repeal.

*

The other upshot here is that the FTC will be able to regulate broadband providers in general after the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of net neutrality rules is finalized on June 11.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/05/att-wants-to-settle-with-ftc...

A little on guy running the FTC

Trump selects Washington lawyer Joe Simons to head FTC: Official
Published 6:13 AM ET Thu, 19 Oct 2017
Reuters

President Donald Trump has selected Joseph Simons, an antitrust attorney with a Washington law firm, to head the Federal Trade Commission, a White House official said on Wednesday.

*

Simons, a partner at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, was a director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition from 2001 to 2003.
During Simons' tenure at the FTC, the agency sued to stop Diageo and Pernod Ricard from buying Seagram Spirits and Wine in 2001 to prevent a duopoly in rum. The FTC also filed a lawsuit in 2003 to stop Haagen-Dazs owner Nestle Holdings Inc from buying Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Inc, which makes also superpremium ice cream. The FTC later settled both cases.

Simons, a partner at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, was a director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition from 2001 to 2003.
During Simons' tenure at the FTC, the agency sued to stop Diageo and Pernod Ricard from buying Seagram Spirits and Wine in 2001 to prevent a duopoly in rum. The FTC also filed a lawsuit in 2003 to stop Haagen-Dazs owner Nestle Holdings Inc from buying Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Inc, which makes also superpremium ice cream. The FTC later settled both cases.

This sounds like a GOOD thing to me.