Monty Solomon posted:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/10/calif-net-neutrality-becomes-law-on-january-1-unless-us-govt-can-stop-it/
If Jeff Sessions is listening only to Chairman Pai, he should know better. He's
going to find out that it safer to do your own homework first.
"The legal argument for preemption is fatally flawed: the FCC claims that it
has no authority to regulate broadband Internet service," attorney Andrew
Schwartzman, who represents the Benton Foundation in the case against the FCC,
said in a statement responding to the DOJ lawsuit. "Courts have consistently
held that when the federal government lacks authority to regulate, it cannot
preempt states from regulating."
Exactly. This is similar to what the FCC kept getting faced with, before 2015,
when trying to make ISPs behave. They couldn't do it. Time and again, the
courts overruled the FCC, precisely because they had no authority to mandate
neutral behavior.
Now that the corrupt FCC decided to abdicate their duties, they cannot pretend
to hold sway over anyone. Not over the ISPs, which can block and throttle to
their heart's content, and not over the states, which have the right to police
their own territory.
"The DOJ's lawsuit against California characterizes the FCC's deregulation of
broadband as an affirmative 'deregulatory policy' and 'deregulatory approach'
to Internet regulation."
Double-talk. You cannot regulate what you have deregulated. Just like the FCC
could not make Comcast behave, as long as Comcast was classified no different
from your bank's web site. The FCC has no power to regulate information
services, end of story.
"The FCC repeal of net neutrality rules thus 'does not constitute an absence of
regulation for States to fill,' the DOJ wrote. Instead, 'it is a uniform,
national regulatory framework, the metes and bounds of which were carefully
considered by the Commission in exercising its lawfully delegated authority.'"
The idiocy of this position is without bounds. Okay, so instead, the corrupt
FCC decision allows for each of the ISPs to establish their own policies on
what Internet sites the users can reach, and not reach. Which means, the
decision allows for anything BUT "uniform," when it comes to the
telecom/Internet service the citizens of the US have access to.
For some odd reason, these corrupt government officials think that's okay. It
makes no difference how much interstate commerce is impeded, how much the
citizens' telecom services become degraded, as long as four or five very
special companies get everything they want.
"FCC Chairman Ajit Pai praised the DOJ lawsuit, saying, 'The Internet is
inherently an interstate information service. As such, only the federal
government can set policy in this area.'"
If it is an interstate service, and presumably interstate commerce must be
fostered, then Chairman Pai has effectively jeopardized interstate commerce.
Blocking and throttling cannot help interstate commerce. So he loses on that
point. And if his weak understanding of the Internet is that it's merely an
information service, then he has nothing to say. Information services are out
of his jurisdiction.
"Pai also said the California law is 'illegal' and 'hurts consumers' by
prohibiting some types of data-cap exemptions that 'allow consumers to stream
video, music, and the like exempt from any data limits.'"
More phony points. By the way, all of this worked just fine with Title II
dialup lines and from 2015-2018 over broadband.
Neutrality does not mean that data caps must exist, and at the same time,
non-neutrality won't prevent data caps from being imposed by ISPs. So as
always, bogus points. And even zero rating was not opposed, after 2015. Like I
said, things can only get worse for him, if he keeps insisting. The California
neutrality law is indeed stronger than what the Wheeler FCC imposed. Oh well.
Bert
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