Rex/Shutterstock
As the California Assembly prepares to vote on the states net neutrality bill, the WGA West is advocating for a federal appeal of the FCCs December ruling on the touchy subject.
“Last year, the Federal Communications Commissions Chairman [Ajit] Pai repealed open Internet protections, leaving powerful Internet providers free to decide what content reaches viewers and how, harming content creators and consumers alike,” the WGAW statement reads. “The decision to abandon those protections, which had been overwhelmingly supported by the public and upheld in court, was factually and legally unsound. The Writers Guild of America West has joined fellow intervenors in filing a brief in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge the FCCs abdication of its responsibilities to protect competition and ensure a free and open Internet.”
The move comes as the California Assembly prepares to vote on SB 822 (read the bill here and a digest below), which would “prohibit fixed and mobile Internet service providers … that provide broadband Internet access service, as defined, from engaging in specified actions concerning the treatment of Internet traffic.” A vote on the legislation, which the WGA also supports, is expected as early as today in Sacramento.
Said Evan Greer, Deputy Director of Fight for the Future, which is advocating for a repeal of the federal net neutrality law: “SB 822 is the best damn net neutrality bill in the country. Its the most authentic attempt to restore the essential protections that the FCC repealed. And with firefighters and emergency workers sounding the alarm about the very real dangers of allowing ISPs to operate without oversight, passing it should be a no-brainer for any state legislator that wants to keep their job.”
Here is the digest of Californias net neutrality bill:
This bill would enact the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018. This act would prohibit fixed and mobile Internet service providers, as defined, that provide broadband Internet access service, as defined, from engaging in specified actions concerning the treatment of Internet traffic. The act would prohibit, among other things, blocking lawful content, applications, services, or nonharmful devices, impairing or degrading lawful Internet traffic on the basis of Internet content, application, or service, or use of a nonharmful device, and specified practices relating to zero-rating, as defined. It would also prohibit fixed and mobile Internet service providers from offering or providing services other than broadband Internet access service that are delivered over the same last-mile connection as the broadband Internet access service, if those services have the purpose or effect of evading the above-described prohibitions or negatively affect the performance of broadband Internet access service.
[contf]
[contfnew]
Deadline
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
