OTI Fights Trump Administration Effort to Kill California's Net Neutrality Law

On Wednesday, OTI filed an amicus brief urging a federal court to deny the Trump Administration’s motion to block a California net neutrality law from going into effect. OTI’s brief, jointly filed with Access Now, Free Press, Public Knowledge, and Mozilla, argues that telecom companies have a long history of violating net neutrality and haven’t performed well during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, Californians need the protections of the state’s net neutrality law, which state legislators passed in 2018 over the strong objections of AT&T and other telecom industry lobbyists. The Trump Administration sued to overturn the law soon after it passed, and in August asked the court to suspend the law’s implementation.

The following quote can be attributed to Joshua Stager, senior counsel at New America’s Open Technology Institute:

“Two years ago, Sacramento legislators passed a law to ensure that Californians get the internet service they paid for without unreasonable interference from their internet provider. That law is needed now more than ever, as Californians rely on internet service to get through simultaneous public health, economic, and weather crises. The telecom industry and the Trump Administration should stop trying to block this law and let Californians have internet freedom.”