Welcome to the Tuesday edition of Internet Insider, where we dive into the latest internet rights and big tech news unfolding online. Today we take a look at the latest in California’s legal battle over its net neutrality law.
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Curated by: Andrew Wyrich, Newsletter Editor
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TODAY’S TOP STORIES
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Vice President Kamala Harris called 10 million households signing up for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which offers monthly discounts for eligible Americans on their broadband bills, a “historic accomplishment.”
ISPs won’t quit trying to derail California’s ‘gold standard’ net neutrality law
A group of organizations representing internet service providers (ISPs) that sued California over its “gold standard” net neutrality law are continuing their legal battle despite a string of recent defeats. Read more about this below.
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BREAK THE INTERNET
ISPs won’t stop trying to derail California’s ‘gold standard’ net neutrality law
Despite a string of recent defeats, internet service providers (ISPs) are dead set on trying to derail California’s “gold standard” net neutrality law.
You’ll remember the Daily Dot writing about California prevailing in the most recent court decision the law has been subjected to, when a panel of judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s law. That decision came after ISP trade groups appealed a lower court’s decision to not grant a preliminary injunction that would have halted the law.
That decision rejecting the legal challenge from the ISP groups was hailed as a “major victory for internet users.”
But now, those same ISP groups are asking the court to reconsider the panel of judge’s decision from last month and to have a hearing before all the judges from the 9th Circuit.
This latest maneuver is just the latest in a (very) long string of legal battles California’s law has been through.
The law was passed shortly after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repealed federal net neutrality rules in 2017 and was immediately hailed as the “gold standard” for other states to follow because it was broader than the FCC’s original order.
Since passing, the law has been through a legal gauntlet.
First, the Justice Department—then part of the Trump administration—joined the ISP groups in suing California over the law. Then, both sides agreed to wait for the Mozilla v. FCC court case, which challenged the FCC’s net neutrality repeal, to be decided by the United States Court of Appeals District for Columbia Circuit.
After that was decided in October 2019, the California lawsuit was reignited. Then, shortly after President Joe Biden was inaugurated, the Justice Department withdrew itself from the lawsuit.
Earlier this year, a district court judge in California denied the trade group’s request for a preliminary injunction against the law. That denial was appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and both sides delivered oral arguments before a panel of judges in September.
In January, the panel of judges announced that they had decided that the district court judge “correctly denied the preliminary injunction.” Now the ISPs are asking for another hearing.
Even despite that string of defeats, the ISP groups are relentlessly trying to derail California’s law.
Click here to read more.
—A.W.
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ONE GOOD THING
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted unanimously to adopt new rules that will crack down on exclusive broadband agreements made between landlords of multi-tenant buildings and internet service providers (ISPs).
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