WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Tuesday opened the way for California to enforce its net neutrality law, denying a request from telecommunications providers to delay state rules designed to ensure equal access to Internet content.
Judge John Mendez, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, denied an injunction request by the group of Internet service providers who filed a lawsuit to prevent the 2018 state law from coming into effect.
Net neutrality is the notion that all Internet content must be accessible to consumers and that broadband providers cannot block or degrade content, especially sites and services that compete with their own services.
California’s law was created after the Trump-era Federal Communications Commission in 2017 repealed its federal network neutrality regulation. The Justice Department immediately sued the state to overturn its law. Broadband providers, through their commercial groups, followed up with an injunction request to prevent California law as the lawsuit progressed through the courts.
The commercial groups that are suing the state said in a joint statement that they are reviewing the court’s decision and deliberating on the next steps. But they argued against state laws that create a patchwork of regulations for broadband providers.
“A state-to-state approach to Internet regulation will confuse consumers and hinder innovation, and the importance of broadband for everyone has never been more apparent,” the groups said.
The court’s decision paves the way for California to enact its law, a measure that must be replicated by other states in the absence of a federal rule. Washington, Vermont and Oregon are among a handful of states that have also enacted laws following the federal reversal of the rules.
“We applaud the court for saying that California has the power to protect access to the Internet,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “The ability of an Internet service provider to block, slow down or speed up content based on the user’s ability to pay for the service degrades the very idea of a competitive market and the open transfer of information at the center of our world more and more digital and connected. “
The Biden government must support the restoration of federal net neutrality rules. A month after the new administration began, the Justice Department withdrew its action against California law, leaving only the telecommunications sector injunction request as the last obstacle to the law coming into effect.
Scott Wiener, the California state senator who drafted the law, called the decision a victory. “The internet is at the center of modern life. We should all be able to decide for ourselves where we go on the Internet and how we access information. We cannot allow large corporations to make these decisions for us, ”he said.
Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat who is the interim president of the FCC, vehemently opposed the agency’s decision in 2017 to dismiss the net neutrality regulations. It has not announced plans to reinstate federal rules. Its focus has been on a Congressional mandate to reduce the digital divide for broadband access for low-income Americans.
“When the FCC, despite my objection, reversed its #netneutrality policies, states like California sought to fill the void with their own laws,” she said in a tweet. “Tonight a California court ruled that state law can go into effect. This is great news for #openinternet policy. “