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from the sudden-outbreak-of-common-sense dept.
California can enforce net neutrality law, judge rules in loss for ISPs:
California can start enforcing the net neutrality law it enacted over two years ago, a federal judge ruled yesterday in a loss for Internet service providers.
Broadband-industry lobby groups' motion for a preliminary injunction was denied by Judge John Mendez of US District Court for the Eastern District of California. Mendez did not issue a written order but announced his ruling at a hearing, and his denial of the ISPs' motion was noted in the docket.
Mendez reportedly was not swayed by ISPs' claims that a net neutrality law isn't necessary because they haven't been blocking or throttling Internet traffic.
"I have heard that argument and I don't find it persuasive," Mendez said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "It's going to fall on deaf ears. Everyone has been on their best behavior since 2018, waiting for whatever happened in the DC Circuit [court case over the FCC's repeal of net neutrality]. I don't place weight on the argument that everything is fine and we don't need to worry."
Mendez, who was nominated by President Bush in 2008, also said, "This decision today is a legal decision and shouldn't be viewed in the political lens. I'm not expressing anything on the soundness of the policy. That might better be resolved by Congress than by federal courts."
The industry lobby groups' lawsuit against California will continue, but the state can enforce its law while the case is still pending. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra praised the ruling, saying it means that "California can soon begin enforcement of SB 822," the net neutrality law.
"The ability of an Internet service provider to block, slow down, or speed up content based on a user's ability to pay for service degrades the very idea of a competitive marketplace and the open transfer of information at the core of our increasingly digital and connected world," Becerra said.
Also at The New York Times, The Verge, and The Hill, among others.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 25 2021, @09:06AM
Rate limiting doesn't require any kind of deep packet inspection, just a counter and a timer. It also depends on the network. Cable modems are assigned a certain number of time slots on their local loop based on their contracted speeds. Any packets that don't fit get dropped. IIRC DSL modems vary their carrier frequency so they can operate at longer distances or across lower quality lines, and yes that does limit their transmit speed.