California May Get Net Neutrality Rules Banning Zero Rating
In the US state of California, a senator has introduced a bill that is stricter on certain points than the original net neutrality rules that the FCC repealed last year. Zero-rating is prohibited under the new rules.
The key element of the California proposal is a zero-rating ban. This is the practice in which certain data streams are not taken into account. This means that certain services that offer content may no longer be offered, even if the data limit has been reached. Certain current services from providers AT&T and Verizon would be banned. This concerns, for example, Directv Now, a video streaming service from AT&T, Wired reports. Democratic Senator Scott Wiener wrote the bill.
The thinking behind banning zero-rating is that it can ultimately lead to smaller parties being squeezed out of the market or that the price advantage is canceled out in the long run by higher prices and a poor supply due to reduced competition. The idea of being able to continue using services regardless of the data limit sounds positive in itself, but the idea is that this could make certain services more popular than others, which could negatively affect competition.
The California bill will prevent ISPs from slowing down, blocking, or prioritizing services, websites, and applications. Also, ISPs may not charge online companies to access ISP customers. Fast lanes are also out of the question.
Barbara van Schewick, a law professor at Stanford University, said the bill is legally sound, suggesting that it cannot be overruled by the FCC or federal rules. When net neutrality was abolished in December last year, the FCC banned states from coming up with their own rules, but according to Van Schewick, this ban is not legally tenable.
With this bill to establish its own state net neutrality rules, California joins a growing number of states that also want to introduce net neutrality rules or have already done so. Recently, the US state of Washington, with Democratic and Republican support, passed a law to this effect. The states of Montana, New York and New Jersey already have their own net neutrality rules, but these are administrative measures that do not involve a traditional legislative process.