Court upholds California’s net-neutrality law

A U.S. court of appeals has upheld California’s tough network neutrality law, holding that the FCC’s move to roll back those rules in 2017 is not enough to block the state’s law.

The FCC, under the Trump administration, overturned Title II-focused network neutrality rules that viewed the Internet as a heavily regulated telecommunications service. That led California lawmakers to take up the task of creating their own law in 2018.

The appeals court held that the rollback of network neutrality rules at the FCC effectively reclassified Internet services as an information service, thus erasing its Title II authority. The FCC “no longer has the authority to regulate in the same manner that it had when these services were classified as telecommunications services,” the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit explained in the ruling.

The California rules, which ban blocking, throttling and certain anticompetitive paid prioritization, were poised to take effect last year after a federal judge effectively cleared the way. That was a clear blow to telcos and cable operators that argued that the FCC’s rollback of the rules preempted the California law.

The Plaintiffs in the case – ACA Connects, CTAI, NCTA and US Telecom – stated they were “disappointed” in the outcome at the 9th Circuit, but “will review our options,” according to CNBC.

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