The US Department of Justice under President Joe Biden has dropped a department lawsuit filed under former President Donald Trump that challenged California’s net neutrality rules. California’s law, considered more strict than federal rules adopted during the Obama administration, could set the baseline for future federal rules.
The DOJ formally dismissed the lawsuit Monday. The suit was first filed in 2018 under ex-US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a Trump appointee. Former California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed the California law in October 2018. California adopted the new rules after a Republican-led FCC in 2017 repealed federal rules that had been established under President Barrack Obama.
With Democrats now in charge, it’s expected the FCC will move to reinstate federal rules, which include provisions to prevent broadband providers from blocking or slowing access to the internet or charging for faster access. This aspect of the rules has been relatively uncontroversial. Even broadband providers, such as Comcast, say they agree with the premise of no blocking or throttling.
But the 2015 rules also firmly established the FCC’s oversight over broadband, which would give the agency the authority to police broadband abuses, such as weak privacy practices or fraudulent billing. In addition, they’d give the agency more authority to promote competition by doing things such as preempting state laws that prohibit municipalities from offering broadband services.
“This debate has always been about the FCC’s authority,” said Gigi Sohn, a fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and advisor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “The question is really about whether there should be an agency to oversee the broadband market.”
Sohn added that since the 2015 fight, the bar’s been raised. The standard isn’t the 2015 FCC rules. Instead policy makers will be looking at California’s stricter 2018 law and beyond. Ultimately the argument is likely to center on how much authority the FCC has to regulate broadband networks.
“I’m not advocating for just reinstating the old rules,” Sohh said. “We need to push for FCC authority to adopt policy to handle issues like zero-rating and data caps.”
More at CNET.