New Jersey The Latest State To Protect Net Neutrality By Executive Order

The Trump FCC is currently in the process of trying to eliminate all meaningful oversight of some of the least competitive companies in America. Not only are broadband providers and the Trump administration trying to gut FTC and FCC oversight of companies like Comcast, they're also trying to ban states from protecting net neutrality or broadband consumer privacy at ISP lobbyist behest. This is all based on the belief that letting Comcast run amok somehow magically forges telecom Utopia. It's the kind of thinking that created Comcast and the market's problems in the first place.

And while the Trump FCC is trying to ban states from protecting consumers in the wake of federal apathy (you know, states rights and all that), the individual states don't appear to be listening. Numerous states are pushing new legislation that effectively codifies the FCC's 2015 net neutrality rules on the state level, efforts that will be contested in the courts over the next few years. ISPs have been quick to complain about the threat of multiple, discordant and shitty state laws, ignoring the fact that they created this problem by lobbying to kill reasonable (and popular) federal protections.

Other states, like Montana and New York have gotten more creative, signing executive orders that ban ISPs from winning state contracts if they violate net neutrality. Montana Governor Steve Bullock went so far as to suggest that other states use his order as a template, something New Jersey appears to have taken him up on. The state this week issued its own executive order (pdf) protecting net neutrality, modifying the state procurement process to prohibit state contracts with ISPs that routinely engage in anti-competitive blocking, throttling, or paid prioritization.

In a press release, state leaders say the new rules will take effect in July:

"We may not agree with everything we see online, but that does not give us a justifiable reason to block the free, uninterrupted, and indiscriminate flow of information," Governor Murphy said. "And, it certainly doesn't give certain companies or individuals a right to pay their way to the front of the line. While New Jersey cannot unilaterally regulate net neutrality back into law or cement it as a state regulation, we can exercise our power as a consumer to make our preferences known."

Governor Murphy's Executive Order will make New Jersey the third state -along with New York and Montana-to mandate that ISPs adhere to net neutrality rules or lose the ability to contract in state. The Executive Order will apply to all contracts between state entities and ISPs that are executed on or after July 1, 2018. The Attorney General's Division of Consumer Affairs will work with the Division of Purchase and Property to carry out the Executive Order and monitor its enforcement.

One problem that could arise from these executive orders is the fact that ISPs can avoid violating the rules if they say they're simply engaging in "reasonable network management."

Defining what "reasonable" is has long been problematic in the net neutrality conversation, and ISP lobbyists have had a lot of luck weakening said definition after the fact to erode the importance of such protections. Hiding anti-competitive behavior behind "reasonable network management", artificial network congestion, or other faux technical justifications is a game ISPs have been playing for about as long as the net neutrality debate has existed, and since lawmakers often have no idea how any of this works it's often easy to mislead them.

Regulators and lawmakers also often like to talk tough on this subject, then avoid any meaningful enforcement down the road for fear of alienating deep-pocketed campaign contributors. So while it's great New Jersey, New York and Montana are doing something about federal regulatory capture, it's going to require an attentive press and public to ensure these state-level promises actually mean something.

The FCC has also stated it plans to take aim at these state executive orders as well state legislation, but it's going to be up to the courts to decide whether the agency's "pre-emption" efforts extend that far. The FCC has had its wrist slapped by the courts in the past for trying to stop states from passing protectionist state laws ("states rights" appears to have a ever-shifting meaning for many of these ISPs and politicians depending on what they're after).

The legal fight between the states and the FCC will be joining the countless looming billable hours as the FCC's unpopular decision gets bogged down in legal chaos for what's likely to be years to come. All so Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon can further abuse a lack of broadband competition for additional anti-competitive gain -- without the pesky threat of anybody actually doing anything about it.