By Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer
A federal appeals court has upheld California's net neutrality law, rejecting an attempt by telecommunications industry groups to prevent the state from enforcing it.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous ruling, which means the status quo stays and the state can continue to enforce the law. This means California can continue its ban on internet providers slowing down or blocking access to websites and applications that don't pay for premium service.
California's net neutrality law was signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018. That came after regulators during the Trump administration killed federal net neutrality rules designed to prevent AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and other major internet providers from exploiting their dominance to favor certain services or apps over others.
In response, seven states and Puerto Rico enacted their own net neutrality policies. The most expansive effort of this sort was in California, which started enforcing the law last year, with potentially significant consequences for the rest of the U.S.
The Trump administration sued to block California's 2018 law, preventing it from taking effect for years, but the Biden administration has dropped that lawsuit.
On Friday, proponents of net neutrality cheered the court's decision, but called for federal net neutrality laws.
"This win is significant because it offers protections to people in our most populous state and drives the national conversation forward," said Matt Wood, vice president of policy and general counsel of consumer advocacy group Free Press, in a statement. "Yet tremendous as it is, we still need the Biden FCC to reclaim its authority not just for nationwide open-internet rules, but for policies promoting affordable, resilient, just and reasonable internet connections for everyone."
Big telecom companies oppose the stricter regulation that comes with the net neutrality rules and have fought it fiercely in court. They say the regulations can undermine investment in broadband and introduce uncertainty about what were acceptable business practices.
They say they prefer a national approach to a state-by-state one, but the industry has fought prior federal net neutrality rules. But with a Senate divided 50-50 between the parties, legislation in Congress may not draw enough support to pass.
“Blade Runner 2049” producers sue Elon Musk and Tesla over AI image at robotaxi event
A film production company that helped make "Blade Runner 2049" has sued Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk for using an AI-generated image resembling a scene from the science fiction movie to market Tesla's new robotaxis.
Alcon Entertainment said it refused all permissions but Tesla allegedly used artificial intelligence to "do it all anyway" when the carmaker unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi on Oct. 10 during a live-streamed event at a Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, California.
After pulling up to the stage in one of the company's "Cybercabs," Musk gave a speech that included a brief reference to the movie franchise. As he spoke, a screen showed an image of a man in a long coat looking over an orange-tinted ruined city. Alcon claims it resembles a key scene in which star Ryan Gosling arrives by "quasi-sentient flying car" to an abandoned Las Vegas.
"I love Blade Runner, but I don't know if we want that future," Musk said. "I think we want that duster he's wearing, but not the bleak apocalypse."
A copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Alcon this week in a Southern California federal court alleges that defendants had asked permission to use images from the movie "mere hours" before the event but Alcon "refused all permissions and adamantly objected."
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Alcon is also suing Warner Bros, the movie's distributor that hosted Musk's robotaxi event. Warner Bros. Discovery didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Alcon, which is working on a spinoff "Blade Runner 2099" series for Amazon, said it is in talks with automakers about brand collaborations but has avoided affiliating with Tesla because of Musk's "extreme political and social views" and... Read More