AT&T rejects $100 million fine, claims it followed the rules
AT&T refuses to pay the FCC the $100 million fine it got slapped with, claiming that it didn't keep data throttling a secret from its subscribers at all. Ma Bell was given with such a hefty penalty, because the agency determined that it slowed down subscribers' "unlimited" internet connections after they've used a particular amount of data without letting them know. The company is now denying that: in its filing to dismiss the $100 million fine, AT&T wrote that it posted a disclosure about throttling data speeds online and even texted a notification to unlimited data customers.
Further, it stated that the FCC can't charge it based on the 2010 Open Internet Order's Transparency Rule provision, because it went above and beyond what was expected of it. According to The Hill, part of the filing read:
Under any lawful mode of analysis, the fact that AT&T complied with the Transparency Rule's requirements by posting an online disclosure containing the information the Commission required should end this case. AT&T, however, went well beyond the Rule's requirements and directly notified all users affected by the MBR policy in numerous additional ways.
The FCC also wanted AT&T to give its unlimited data subscribers a way to leave their contracts, but the carrier said the commission has no authority to demand that. In addition to asking for the fine to be lowered to $16,000, AT&T also wants the commission to put a stop to the enforcement of its other, non-monetary penalties.
[Image credit: JeepersMedia/Flickr]
