US state of Oregon introduces net neutrality law

The US state of Oregon has introduced a law that introduces its own form of net neutrality. In doing so, the state joins a growing number of US states that are opposing the FCC’s abolition of net neutrality.

The governor of the state of Oregon has now signed the law. This makes Oregon the second US state after Washington to have introduced its own legislation to more or less restore net neutrality. There are other states that oppose the abolition of net neutrality with their own rules, but most of these are administrative measures, without the use of a traditional legislative process.

The new Oregon law prohibits state bodies from contracting with ISPs that violate net neutrality principles, such as managing paid-priority operations, blocking certain content, or other forms of discrimination. ISPs that do business with state entities must disclose publicly if they throttle or block internet traffic, or if they give priority to certain payers.

However, there are limitations and exceptions in the law. For example, paid priority is still possible if a state commission determines that this is in the public interest and that the open nature of the internet is not harmed. Also, slowing down or blocking internet traffic is not prohibited under all circumstances. A committee can qualify this as reasonable network management if it serves a legitimate purpose and it is not done from a purely commercial point of view. In addition, Oregon is allowed to do business with an ISP if it is the only provider in the state. The latter is not the case in Oregon, but in the US it often happens that there is only one supplier locally and therefore in fact has the monopoly.

Until December 14 last year, there were fairly strict national net neutrality rules in the US, but the FCC repealed them on that day, despite strong criticism from many companies, citizens and organizations. Of the five members of the FCC, three Republicans, including Chairman Ajit Pai, voted to change the rules; the two Democratic members voted against.