U.S. Justice Department Sues Hours After California Signs Strong Net Neutrality Law ⇥ latimes.com

Jazmine Ulloa, Los Angeles Times:

News that the governor signed the ambitious new law was swiftly met with an aggressive response from Justice Department officials, who announced soon afterward that they were suing California to block the regulations. The state law prohibits broadband and wireless companies from blocking, throttling or otherwise hindering access to internet content, and from favoring some websites over others by charging for faster speeds.

[…]

The bill’s August passage in the Legislature capped months of feuding between tech advocates and telecom industry lobbyists. Telecom giants such as AT&T and Verizon Communications poured millions into killing the legislation, while grass-roots activists fought back with crowdsourced funding and social media campaigns.

After Comcast and Verizon asked, the FCC was only too happy to prevent states from enacting their own net neutrality legislation. As far as I can tell, the DoJ hasn’t tried to block Washington’s similar law yet.

See Also: Jerri-Lynn Scofield’s summary and overview; Cecilia Kang’s reporting.

And Also: Karl Bode at TechDirt.