Net Neutrality: SB 822

I think that most of us can agree that our government has hit an all time low. Our kids have no interest in a system that isn’t working. The news is filled with a constant flow of all the unbelievable things our government is doing. This post is not about that. In fact, this post is a congratulations to the California Legislature.

I got wind of SB 822 while I was reading my regular news. The story went that California had instituted a net neutrality bill, and the Federal Government was pissed. California is likely going to get sued by the Federal Government, and by all the big Internet service providers.

This kind of news tells me that we did something right. We did something that made large companies and the Feds mad. So what did we do?

We added a bill, SB 822, which will help to keep our internet free and open. I’m going to paste the text from the summary portion of the bill and give you the link below, but in summary, it is working towards keeping the large carriers from creating situations that are unfair.

Net neutrality is a bitch to understand, but the basics are that everyone should have free and equal use of the internet. If I decide to create a streaming service I should be able to compete with Netflix. I know, that sounds silly, but hang in there with me.

Let’s say I’m going to start BDMovies. I have a market, I have content, I’m ready to go. In a net neutral world, I am able to compete. However since we currently don’t have net neutrality in place Verizon decides that they will bundle Netflix with their service so there is no bandwidth costs. I’m screwed. The big boys have collected themselves into an entity I can’t compete with. You won’t watch my movies because it will cost you in bandwidth and data caps, so you will gravitate to Netflix by default and BDMovies will die.

This is only one example but it is simple enough to understand. SB 822 keeps this bundling from happening. Verizon cannot makes its service appealing by adding additional services. You could argue that this sucks, because now they need to pay for these services and bandwidth, but I would argue it is necessary for keeping the internet free and open.

The bigger issue for the Federal Government is that now that we have instituted this they fear that all the states will need to comply. Federally, thanks to Ajit Pai, there are no laws in place for protection, but if California puts them in place these companies really need to comply in all states in the United States. How do you offer bundling in all states but California.

California is the tail that wags the dog, and I am grateful. I am proud of our California Legislature for standing up and doing what is right. We, as a people, have become numb to what our government is doing, and our lack of caring is going to hurt us in the long run.

Dante Acosta sent me a letter addressing SB 822. In it, he states that Democrats and Republicans vote in favor of a free and open internet. This is how government should work. Both parties, together, unified on one front, to stand for the people of this Nation.

Thank you California for standing and doing what is right. I know the fight is only about to begin!

SB 822

This bill would enact the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018. This act would prohibit fixed and mobile Internet service providers, as defined, that provide broadband Internet access service, as defined, from engaging in specified actions concerning the treatment of Internet traffic. The act would prohibit, among other things, blocking lawful content, applications, services, or nonharmful devices, impairing or degrading lawful Internet traffic on the basis of Internet content, application, or service, or use of a nonharmful device, and specified practices relating to zero-rating, as defined. It would also prohibit fixed and mobile Internet service providers from offering or providing services other than broadband Internet access service that are delivered over the same last-mile connection as the broadband Internet access service, if those services have the purpose or effect of evading the above-described prohibitions or negatively affect the performance of broadband Internet access service.