WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Tuesday ruled out California enforcing its net neutrality law, denying a request by telecommunications providers to delay state rules that mean equal access to Internet content.
Judge John Mendez of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California denied a motion of preliminary injunction by the group of Internet service providers that sued to prevent the 2018 legislation from coming into effect.
Net neutrality is the idea that all internet content should be accessible to consumers and that broadband providers cannot block or break down content, especially websites and services that compete with their own services.
California law was created after the Federal Communications Commission in the Trump era in 2017 withdrew its federal net neutrality regulation. The Justice Department immediately sued the state to withdraw its law. Broadband providers, through their trading groups, followed up with a request for a preliminary injunction to stop California law while the case went through the courts.
The trade groups suing the state said in a joint statement that they were reviewing the court decision and considering the next steps. But they are protesting against state laws that create a patchwork of regulations for broadband providers.
“A state-by-state approach to Internet regulation will confuse consumers and deter innovation, just as the importance of broadband for all has never been so clear,” the groups said.
The court ruling opens the way for California to enact its law, a move that is expected to be repeated by other states in the absence of a federal government. Washington, Vermont and Oregon are among a handful of states that also enacted laws after the federal repayment of the rules.
“We applaud the court for confirming that California has the power to protect Internet access,” 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 a user’s ability to pay for service, detracts from the idea of a competitive market and the public transfer of information in the core of our increasingly digital and connected world. . ”
The Biden government is expected to support the restoration of federal rules on net neutrality. A month after the new administration, the Department of Justice dropped its lawsuit against California law, citing only the telecommunications industry’s request for a provisional order as a final obstacle to the law’s enactment.
Scott Wiener, the California state senator who wrote the law, calls the decision a victory. ‘The internet is the core of modern life. We all need to be able to decide for ourselves where we go on the internet and how we access information. We can not allow large companies to make these decisions for us, ”he said.
Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat who is the acting chair of the FCC, vehemently opposed the agency’s decision to scrap net neutrality regulations in 2017. She did not announce plans to reintroduce federal rules. Her focus was on a mandate from Congress to bridge the digital divide for broadband access to low-income Americans.
“When the FCC returned my #netneutrality policy over my objection, states like California tried to fill the gap with their own laws,” she said in a tweet. “Tonight, a court in California has ruled that the state law can come into force. This is great news for #openinternet policies. ”