Another massive win for net neutrality was recently achieved in a court of law.
According to a recent report from Reuters, the U.S. broadband industry ended its challenge to California's landmark net neutrality law, which prevents it from throttling its services and protecting the open internet.
California's net neutrality law was enacted in 2019, per The Sacramento Bee.
California Net Neutrality Challenge Details
Reuters' report mentioned that a group of industry associations went to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on May 4 to submit a joint stipulation that dismisses its earlier challenge to California's net neutrality law "without prejudice."
The group in question represented the major internet providers that challenged California's net neutrality law, which are At&T Inc., Verizon Communications, Comcast Corp, and others.
Meanwhile, Ars Technica stated in its report that the group in question consists of the four broadband lobby groups that challenged California's net neutrality law. These internet service provider groups are ACA Connects, CTIA-The Wireless Association, NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, and USTelecom.
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According to Stanford Law Professor Barbara van Schewick's post for The Center for Internet and Society, the previously mentioned internet service providers (ISPs) realized that they couldn't overturn California's net neutrality law after losing three times in federal court. She also called the development "a historic win for Californians and the open internet" and that the ISPs should stop trying to overturn it.
"Thanks to the hard work of California's Attorney General and the wide coalition that helped defend the law in court, the ISPs gave up instead of fighting this to the Supreme Court," van Schewick said in her post.
The three attempts van Schewick said in her post refer to the case's first hearing and the subsequent appeals the ISPs made as a challenge to California's net neutrality law.
The History of California's Fight For Net Neutrality
California's net neutrality law was authored by Senator Scott Winer and was passed in 2018 with bipartisan support despite what was said to be fierce opposition from AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast.
A DC federal court nearly repealed California's net neutrality law in 2019, but the FCC was said to lack the authority to issue a ban on states passing their own protections. This finding tipped the scales toward net neutrality on that day.
However, the ISPs continued their attack on the law, resuming the case in the summer of 2020.
A separate report from Ars Technica said that Judge John Mendez of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California issued a ruling at the case's first hearing. The ruling said that the ISPs were unlikely to win the case and that California could proceed with enforcing its net neutrality law.
However, the ISPs, with the exception of AT&T, continued to challenge the law another two times. The first of these appeals happened on January 28, with the three judges who heard the case unanimously upheld the district court's decision per CNBC. Meanwhile, not a single judge voted to take the case on the second, per The Verge.
Unfortunately, due to the ISPs filing to dismiss the case without prejudice, they can refile a case against the Californian law in the future.
