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'Gold Standard' State Net Neutrality Bill Approved By California Assembly (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: California's state Assembly yesterday approved a strict net neutrality bill despite opposition from the telecom industry. California's Senate already approved an earlier version of the bill in May. But some minor changes were made in the Assembly, so the Senate must vote on the bill again today before going into recess. If the Senate approves, California Governor Jerry Brown would have until September 30 to sign the bill into law. The bill would prohibit Internet service providers from blocking or throttling lawful traffic, and from requiring fees from websites or online services to deliver or prioritize their traffic to consumers. The bill also imposes limits on data cap exemptions (so-called "zero-rating") and says that ISPs may not attempt to evade net neutrality protections by slowing down traffic at network interconnection points. Yesterday's Assembly vote was 61-18. All 55 Democratic members of the Assembly and six Republicans voted for the bill. All 18 votes against it came from Republicans. "ISPs have tried hard to gut and kill this bill, pouring money and robocalls into California," Electronic Frontier Foundation Policy Analyst Katharine Trendacosta said. "California could pass a gold standard net neutrality bill, providing a template for states going forward. California can prove that ISP money can't defeat real people's voices."
UPDATE: The state Senate approved the bill 23-11. It's now headed to California Gov. Jerry Brown's desk, where he's expected to sign the legislation since it has garnered the support of top state Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Kamala Harris.
UPDATE: The state Senate approved the bill 23-11. It's now headed to California Gov. Jerry Brown's desk, where he's expected to sign the legislation since it has garnered the support of top state Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Kamala Harris.
You mean out of pure spite. I notice prices didn't fall even an iota when the FCC killed it.
A non-neutral internet is just like a curved-screen television: it's an invention whose only purpose is to generate money for the creator without providing any actual service or improvement, while providing noticeable cases where it detracts from the original experience.
prices always go up regardless...unless you also buy tv...in which case prices go up even more...
nothing to see here - move along
Happy now, idiots?
Have gnu, will travel.
That's absolutely untrue, and in any case is simply acceding all power to some faceless corporation. You are basically saying service providers experience no market forces and can set their prices arbitrarily high. As counterexample, let me introduce you to the Internet in the rest of the developed world. Plenty of countries (but not all) have lower prices and faster speeds than we do here in America. We just let our ISPs directly dictate policy to our government, and engage in other non market based shenanigans.
ISPs can accept lower profits if they want to stay in the game. We have the power to force them to do that.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
We got rural voters. Urban voters. Black voters, white voters, brown voters and every kind of voter.
Speaking of electoral votes, we got more of them than any other state. We have more electoral votes than Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia put together.
Face it, without California, the United States might as well be Brazil or Mexico. We're the straw that stirs the drink. We're the state that everyone writes songs about. Other states aspire to be us. You hear all kinds of places saying that they're the "new Silicon Valley". You don't hear them say "We're the new West Virginia" or, "We're the new Indiana".
You are welcome on my lawn.