CA passes law to restore net neutrality in the state. Justice Dept immediately sues to block it

[KelleyKramer]

Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill to restore net neutrality in California

Fierce legal battles loom as California moves to enforce Obama-era open internet policies struck down by the Trump administration.


https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/gov-jerry-brown-signs-bill-restore-net-neutrality-california-n915221?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma






LOS ANGELES — California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law on Sunday a bill to restore net neutrality protections that President Donald Trump's Federal Communications Commission killed late last year. The new law prohibits internet service providers, or ISPs, from blocking or slowing access to legal online content, demanding special fees from websites to prioritize their traffic or charging customers for special exemptions to caps on their data use.

The U.S. Justice Department quickly filed a federal action in U.S. District Court in Sacramento to block the new law Sunday night. In a statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said: "Under the Constitution, states do not regulate interstate commerce — the federal government does. Once again the California legislature has enacted an extreme and illegal state law attempting to frustrate federal policy."

-snip-

The country's largest cable and internet providers, led by Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp., lobbied strenuously for the FCC's ruling last year. FCC records (PDF) show that Comcast specifically urged the commission to preempt state and local moves to restore the Obama-era policies.


-snip-


Fight for the Future, a nonprofit based in Massachusetts that lobbies for an open internet, called the California measure "the strongest and most comprehensive state-level net neutrality bill in the country" and said it hoped California's example would "unleash a wave of similar efforts in other states." "Despite their army of lobbyists and millions spent lining the pockets of legislators, these companies continue to lose ground in the face of overwhelming cross-partisan opposition to their greedy attacks on our Internet freedom," Evan Greer, the organization's deputy director, said in a statement.


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[DetlefK]

1. But the FCC has specifically said that they won't regulate because they lack authority to do so.

If the FCC doesn't have the authority to regulate net-neutrality, and the States don't have it, then who does???

[Volaris]

5. Well the FCC can't have it both ways.

Either they cannot regulate web traffic at the Federal level (net neutrality goes away), or they can (which kinda means they HAVE TO enforce it by default).

Their claim is that it isn't the feds problem.
Fine. By DEFINITION that means the several states get to do whatever the hell they want with it, as individual soverign systems.

But for Cali to say ok, then we'll run with the ball u guys don't care about--AS IS OUR RIGHT, and the FCC to say no you can't do that--is bullshit.

EITHER the FCC HAS TO regulate web traffic, OR they don't get to care about it at all. This having it both ways nonsense is a violation of States Rights (something I thought Republicans were supposed to like anyway. Guess not.).

[tymorial]

2. What standing does the government have in this lawsuit?

I could see a provider suing but not the federal government

[Volaris]

6. The justice department seems to want to claim that just because the feds

Chooses not to care about a thing, that means that everyone else has to Not Care about that thing to an equal extent.

That's not how any of this works lol.

[treestar]

3. Right wingers are usually so into a state's rights

watch them flip flop now.