Broad Coalition Files New Brief Backing CA Net Neutrality Law

LOS ANGELES—A new coalition led by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed court papers Wednesday, in another attempt to block the federal Department of Justice from scuttling California’s net neutrality legislation. The federal government has been trying to stop the state-level law ever since it was passed in late 2018. California passed the law, considered the country’s net neutrality legislation, just months after the Federal Communications Commission repealed the regulations that were put in place by the Barack Obama administration in 2015. But several technology advocacy groups, led by the Mozilla Foundation — makers of the open-source Firefox web browser — filed a suit in federal court to reverse the FCC’s repeal.  Net neutrality is crucial to the online adult industry, because it prohibits internet service providers from blocking or “throttling” traffic from any specific content provider, meaning that all online data must be handled equally, without discrimination or censorship. After Mozilla filed its 2018 lawsuit, state attorney general Xavier Becerra agreed to put the law on hold, until the Mozilla lawsuit could be resolved. About a year later, however, a federal appeals court in Washington D.C. upheld the FCC’s net neutrality repeal. Mozilla subsequently declined to take the case to the next level — the U.S. Supreme Court. The D.C. appeals court, however, ruled that states may proceed with their own net neutrality rules — disagreeing with the FCC’s contention that the 2018 repeal “preempted” any state legislation. But the court’s ruling did not stop the Justice Department from going to court, attempting to block the California law anyway. “The law, SB 822, ensures that that all Californians have full access to all Internet content and services — at lower prices,” the EFF said in a statement announcing its new court filing on Wednesday. “Without legal protections, low-income Californians who rely on mobile devices for internet access and can’t pay for more expensive content are at a real disadvantage. Their ISPs could inhibit full access to the Internet, which is critical for distance learning, maintaining small businesses, and staying connected.” The EFF said that SB 822 guarantees “that large ISPs do not take advantage of their stranglehold on Californians’ Internet access to slow or otherwise manipulate Internet traffic.” About two weeks ago, as AVN reported, Becerra also filed court documents defending the state net neutrality law.  In the 62-page brief, the California AG called the federal government’s view that it could stand in the way of any state legislation regarding online communication “remarkable on many levels.” Photo By Kalhh / Pixabay