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US Justice Department Drops Challenge to Net Neutrality Law Passed by California

California's Senate Bill 882 was toughest state Net Neutrality bill in nation

The US Department of Justice voluntarily withdrew a legal challenge to California Senate Bill 882, which in 2017 had put in place the nation's toughest state Net Neutrality bill after the Trump era FCC repealed most of the Open Internet regulations put in place during the Obama era FCC. In the lawsuit, the US DOJ had argued that the FCC's decision had preempted state action like SB882 which prohibited Internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic, or offering "fast lanes" for compensation.

"When the FCC, over my objection, rolled back its net neutrality policies, states like California sought to fill the void with their own laws," Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. "By taking this step, Washington is listening to the American people, who overwhelmingly support an open internet, and is charting a course to once again make net neutrality the law of the land."

California's SB882 did not go into effect due to various legal challeges. The California law essentially put back in the prior FCC's federal net neutrality rules from the Obama FCC era. Industry players such as the incumbent telephone and cable companies had also challenged the law. A hearing later this month is set, and so it is expected that the case will still go forward.

Yesterday, in Washington, D.C., Public Knowledge filed at the FCC asking the agency to reconsider its October 2020 decision to stand by its repeal, after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia largley upheld the 2017 FCC decision, but ordered the FCC to reconsider a few issues like public safety. The California Public Utilities Commission also challenged the FCC's decision in an appeals court filing in October 2020. Thus, the FCC's net neutrality repeal is still very much in place at present. Things may change again, in the flip flopping world of net neutrality . . .