Major lobbying groups oppose the new net neutrality rules that are supposed to protect an open Internet. Former commissioners for the regulator, who passed the rules, lead both groups.

A wireless industry lobbying group, headed by former FTC commissioner, filed a lawsuit against the FCC a few days ago. The group seeks to overturn the FCC’s net neutrality rules claiming that the regulator “usurped the role of Congress” in creating them. This suit joined a similar filing from another cable and telecommunications association headed by an ex-chairman of the FCC. The association points out that the consumers will have to bear the burden of new taxes and increased costs resulting from the new net neutrality rules, that would be passed on to them by member organizations. A number of smaller lobbing groups also filed suits.

The groups believe that the courts will reject the FCC’s overreach for the third time, especially with respect to mobile broadband services. They refer to previous rulings against the FCC, in particular the 2014 court ruling saying that cable networks can’t be classified as “common carriers”.

Despite the fact that the FCC’s net neutrality rules are quite popular with consumers and video producers, they are still controversial, and some believe them to be based on dubious legal grounds and therefore should be thoroughly tested by lawsuits. The groups claim that net neutrality cannot stand legally. They predict heavily contested battles against the FCC’s rules.

Anyway, there are still some concerns with respect to the way carriers privilege certain kinds of content – this is even if net neutrality passes muster with the courts.