Six States Have Proposed Net Neutrality Laws With More Coming At least six states have now proposed their own net neutrality laws in the wake of the FCC's extremely unpopular assault on the federal rules, with more states on the way. As of last Friday, California, Washington, New York, Rhode Island, Nebraska and Massachusetts have all introduced some form of net neutrality legislation. North Carolina and Illinois are also considering crafting their own state laws in the wake of the repeal. The efforts come as surveys continue to show that net neutrality has broad, bipartisan support among voters, contrary to telecom industry rhetoric.

The problem: the FCC's misleadingly-named "Restoring Internet Freedom" order bans states from passing their own rules, setting the stage for a legal standoff between the states and the federal government. Some states, like California, have been forced to get creative as they propose their own rules. In several instances, states have proposed rules that would punish ISPs that fail to adhere to net neutrality principles. That could range from refusing to let bad actors attach to city-owned utility poles, or banning violators from bidding for city service contracts. "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 has introduced one of two proposals being considered in California. "And we strongly believe that, since we are the epicenter of innovation and creativity in the area of technology." Some lawyers doubt the FCC has the legal authority to stop states from pursuing their own rules, something that was directly lobbied for by Comcast and Verizon. "The FCC’s attempt to preempt state rules appears questionable," telecom lawyer Pantelis Michalopoulos told The Hill. "Further analysis is necessary, but generally something needs to be preempted by something else. Here you have virtually no federal rules to preempt state rules," he said. ISPs have argued that complying with a patchwork of different state rules could prove difficult, though that's probably something they should have considered before they lobbied to destroy modest and popular federal protections.







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b10010011

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join:2004-09-07

Bellingham, WA 1 edit 9 recommendations b10010011 Member A patchwork of 50 possibly conflicting state laws is exactly what we need



It makes me wish I owned an ISP, I would block access to Foxnews, Infowars, and Brietbart websites just because now I can. Seriously, although Conservatives will never accept that it's their fault or the obvious fact that one unified federal law is what we need.It makes me wish I owned an ISP, I would block access to Foxnews, Infowars, and Brietbart websites just because now I can. Tch81

join:2015-08-10 7 recommendations Tch81 Member Interesting... I guess just about anything is for sale if the price is right. It seems GOP, the champions of state rights and small government have no problems with any regulation as long as it furthers their agenda.