A state bill to restore net neutrality protections in California that had been “eviscerated” by an Assembly committee in June sprung back to life this week and was easily passed by that same committee on Wednesday with its strongest open-internet protections restored.
The party-line 9-3 vote of the Assembly's Communications and Conveyance Committee sets the stage for a vote of the full Assembly next week, before the California legislature closes its current session on August 31, according to a report by The San Francisco Chronicle.
The bill would bring back protections for California that were stripped away on the national level when the Federal Communications Commission repealed Obama-era net neutrality rules in June. Net neutrality rules are designed to prevent internet service providers from discriminating against data traffic from certain sources while favoring others. Without the rules, some companies may be able to pay ISPs extra for access to an internet “fast lane,” while those who lack the resources to pay could find their traffic slowed or even blocked.
For online porn consumers and producers, the lack of net neutrality protections could have a direct impact, as AVN.com has reported, allowing ISPs to “package” porn sites and charge additional fees for users to access those sites—or to simply censor online adult sites entirely.
Scott Wiener, the San Francisco state senator who authored the bill, SB822, called the committee vote “a big step forward" but warned that the bill still faces difficult hurdles before becoming law.
“We continue to face a huge fight, as the big telecom and cable companies will stop at nothing to kill the bill," Wiener said in a Tuesday statement. "Yet, we have momentum and the support of a broad and diverse coalition that understands the importance of a free and open internet for everyone.”
Indeed, the California Cable & Telecommunications Association—a lobbying group representing the big ISPs—continues to oppose the bill, with group President Carolyn McIntyre saying that “the state is stepping beyond their legal jurisdiction in imposing any requirements in this space,” because state-level net neutrality bills could lead to conflicting rules for telecom companies between different states.
“We know we have a lot of work to do to get the 41 votes, but we can get there,” Wiener said, referring to the number of Assembly votes required to pass the bill. The California State Senate has already passed the bill, on May 31.
If the Assembly passes the net neutrality bill, it must then be signed by Governor Jerry Brown on order to become law.
Photo by David Monniaux/Wikimedia Commons
