State legislatures pushing for restoration of net neutrality rules

16 Jan 2018

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State legislatures are pushing to retain net neutrality rules after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved to scrap them last month (See: US sweeps aside net neutrality, allows telcos to erect paywalls)

Legislation has been introduced by at least six state governments to preserve the rules, and legislators with other states also in the process of considering their own net neutrality bills.

The move follows, the FCC voted in December in favour of chairman Ajit Pai's plan to roll back the regulations, which prevented internet service providers like AT&T and Verizon from slowing down certain content or requiring websites to pay for faster speeds.

As of Friday, California, Washington, New York, Rhode Island, Nebraska and Massachusetts had introduced net neutrality, with North Carolina and Illinois considering similar legislation.

The enactment of such regulation would allow the states to preserve the Obama-era net neutrality rules.

''For Californians, the internet has always been an open, free, egalitarian space, accessible to all individuals,'' said California state senator Kevin de León (D), who introduced his own net neutrality legislation this week. ''And we strongly believe that, since we are the epicenter of innovation and creativity in the area of technology,''  thehill.com reported.

Along with de León, who has launched a Democratic primary challenge to senator Dianne Feinstein (Californai), other state lawmakers across the country pushing for similar legislation in the hopes that their regulations would force internet service providers to apply net neutrality rules nationwide.

When an independent agency makes a decision like the one the FCC, it can be reversed by Congress in 60 legislative days.

As of yesterday, senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that all 49 Democrats, plus one Republican, senator Susan Collins of Maine, supported a resolution for the restoration of net neutrality.

''With full caucus support, it's clear that Democrats are fighting to keep the internet from becoming the Wild West where ISPs are free to offer premium service to only the wealthiest customers while average consumers are left with far inferior options,'' Schumer said.

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