Mozilla, Advocates, And Attorneys General Defend California's Net Neutrality Law

A broad array of advocacy groups, along with 19 attorneys general, other public officials, and tech companies including Mozilla are urging a federal appellate court to uphold California's network neutrality law. The advocacy groups are weighing in on a battle over a California state law that prohibits broadband providers from blocking or throttling traffic, charging higher fees for prioritized delivery, and from exempting certain material from customers' data caps. The state enacted that law in 2018, shortly after the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission repealed a set of similar net neutrality regulations that had been passed during the Trump era. US District Court Judge John Mendez in Sacramento (CA) rejected the industry's arguments earlier in 2021 when he refused to block the law from taking effect. The cable and telecom industry are now appealing Judge Mendez's ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and a host of other groups are urging the appellate court to uphold Judge Mendez's ruling. The organizations say in a friend-of-the-court brief that small businesses -- as well as schools, libraries, and low-income people and marginalized communities -- need to be able to rely on an open internet. Among other arguments, the advocacy organizations say small companies will be at a disadvantage if they have to pay for prioritized traffic delivery. Mozilla, along with watchdogs Access Now, Public Knowledge, New America's Open Technology Institute and Free Press, say in a separate friend-of-the-court brief that broadband carriers have a long history of violating net neutrality principles. Nineteen attorneys general add in their own friend-of-the-court brief that state governments should have the authority to pass laws aimed at “protecting their residents from abusive business practices.” “States have ample authority to prohibit or regulate business practices by broadband providers that harm consumers or jeopardize public health and safety,” the attorneys general write.