Washington becomes the first state to impose own Net Neutrality laws after FCC repeal

Two days ago, the FCC abolished Net Neutrality for good, thwarting the Senate’s attempt to block the repeal. Successfully predicting the outcome, the state of Washington has enacted its back-up plan to install its own its own state-wide Net Neutrality rules, helping to protect both consumers and fledgling tech start-ups.

Ars Technica reports that Washington’s legislature and governor had approved their own Net Neutrality rules three months ago and had already everything in place for when the rules were fully repealed by the FCC. As they had planned, the moment Net Neutrality died, their own laws went into effect.

Image: FCC

Just like the original Net Neutrality laws, ISPs are not allowed to throttle or charge for the prioritisation of certain traffic. The State Attorney General will be in charge under the Consumer Protection Act that already exists in the state.

Washington may be the first to implement state laws across all ISPs, but they won’t be the last, as California also looking to impose its own stricter Net Neutrality laws, though the bill is still seeking approval. Oregon has also passed its own laws regulating the sale of internet services to government agencies as of next year, with New York, New Jersey, Montana, Hawaii and Vermont shortly to follow.

KitGuru Says: It's great to see that Washington is putting up a fight, and many other states are looking to follow. Clearly, the FCC didn’t have consumers in mind when repealing Net Neutrality rules if this is the response from individual states. Do you think all states will implement their own Net Neutrality laws?

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