Los Angeles Times

California is trying to bring back net neutrality, but the debate is complicated

California state lawmakers are angling for another fight with the Trump administration, this time to revive federal net neutrality rules that they say are crucial to a fair, open and free internet. 

California wanted to bridge the digital divide but left rural areas behind. Now that's about to change

Over the last decade, California’s urban centers have become technology hubs, cities where free Wi-Fi and fiber optic lines are ubiquitous. But in low-income neighborhoods, across the state’s inland regions and in rural communities — often home to large migrant populations — families struggle to connect at all. Some elected officials see that reality as proof that a digital divide is leaving many people behind. And they’ve set out to remedy it. In 2007, the state established the California Advanced Services Fund to offer companies incentive to help bridge the gap.

Editorial: It's up to Congress to save the internet

[Commentary] The Restoring Internet Freedom order was a triumph of ideology over sense, sacrificing the interests of internet users and innovators on the altar of deregulatory purity. Some leading broadband providers, recognizing that they got more from the FCC than they’d bargained for, pledged never to use their newfound freedom to interfere online. But that’s not enough. Ideally, Congress would do something it should have done a decade ago: update federal communications law to give the FCC a mandate and clear authority to protect net neutrality.

Democrats' report details Russian meddling in European elections and threats to US campaigns

Russian President Vladimir Putin has systematically attacked democratic institutions across Europe and in his own country for two decades in efforts to undermine elections and other governments, Senate Democrats charged. Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a 206-page report that said President Trump’s failure to recognize the danger or to challenge Putin means Russia is likely to interfere in the next US presidential race in a repeat of the 2016 campaign.

In Theory: Would an end to net neutrality stifle religious speech online?

[Commentary] Does the elimination of network neutrality threaten religious speech? Should Congress cement into law the right to equal access on the World Wide Web?

Net neutrality vote will require users to 'pay to play'

[Commentary] With a 3-2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission overturned a long tradition — one that had only culminated in 2015 in the formalizing of the principle of net neutrality, but that had been honored long before open internet rules became official. The old rules were easy for service providers to follow and their repeal creates incentives to slow down net services to extract premium prices.