9 (b) Changed facts. The Commission identifies two changes, neither of which seems very radical or logically linked to the new regime. First, it argues that consumers now use broadband “to access third party content, applications and services.” Order ¶¶ 330, 346-47. But that is nothing new. In the Order from well over a decade ago that Brand X affirmed, the Commission said that consumers “may obtain many functions from companies with whom the cable operator has not even a contractual relationship” instead of from their cable internet service provider. Declaratory Ruling and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 17 F.C.C. Rcd. 4798 ¶¶ 25, 38 & n.153 (2002) (“Declaratory Ruling”). Second, the Order points to the emphasis that providers put on the “speed and reliability of transmission separately from and over” other features. Order ¶¶ 330, 351. Again, there is nothing new about these statements from broadband providers, who have been advertising speed for decades. See Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Ajit Pai to Order (“Pai Dissent”) at 357-58; Dissenting Statement of Commissioner Michael O’Rielly to Order at 391. As Justice Scalia put it in an undisputed segment of his Brand X dissent, broadband providers (like pizzerias) “advertise[] quick delivery” as an “advantage[] over competitors.” 545 U.S. at 1007 n.1 (Scalia, J., dissenting). At no point does the Commission seriously try to quantify these alleged changes in the role or speed of internet service providers. Even if there were changes in degree in these aspects of the internet, the Commission doesn’t explain why an increase in consumer access to third-party content, or an increase in competition to offer high-speed service, would make application of Title II more appropriate as a policy matter now than it was at the time of the Declaratory Ruling at issue in Brand X.

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