California net neutrality bill approved by Senate

The toughest net neutrality bill, sponsored by Senators Scott Wiener and Kevin de León, was approved today by the California Senate, one day after the California Assembly’s approval. The bill prohibits blocking, speeding up and slowing down websites or whole classes of applications such as videos. The bill goes one step forward prohibiting Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from violating net neutrality by not counting the content and websites they own against subscribers’ data caps, which is considered as anti-competitive “zero-rating” practice. Other “zero-rating” plans that don’t harm consumers are allowed. The bill further bans ISPs from requiring fees from websites and online services in order to prioritize their traffic. With both legislative houses approval, the bill still has to be signed by Governor Jerry Brown by 30 September to become law in the state.