A California net neutrality bill is headed toward passage by the Legislature. Its passage might get a boost as consumers are reading about Verizon’s throttling of firefighters’ data when fighting the largest wildfire in California’s history.
The bill, SB 822, lists both North Coast lawmakers Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Santa Rosa) and state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) as co-authors. It’s awaiting its third reading and final vote in the Assembly, the last hurdle until it is sent to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk.
“I support SB 822,” Wood said in an email. “We get to decide where we go on the internet without the barriers of speed or limited access hindering us. When we saw how throttling those speeds can impact first responders in an emergency, all the technical arguments against the bill made by telecomm companies go up in smoke, literally.”
Verizon claims net neutrality has nothing to do with why it was throttling first responders internet speeds — which were operating at 1/200th of regular speeds, according to the Santa Clara County based firefighters who are assisting in controlling the Mendocino Complex twin blazes.
But both local legislators and Access Humboldt’s executive director believe the two are tied.
“Verizon wants to say no,” Access Humboldt’s Sean McLaughlin said. “The best answer I have comes from the legal counsel at Electronic Frontier Foundation. If SB 822 was passed, Verizon would be subject to enforcement action. Lacking that authority, there is nothing they can do about it right now.”
In addition, with the rollback of net neutrality at a federal level, there is no federal enforcement.
McLaughlin said that from Access Humboldt’s perspective, there shouldn’t even been an issue for emergency personnel and communications.
“The fire department should be getting free service,” McLaughlin said. “The way the market operates, it doesn’t happen that way. The siting of antennas is often on public property. It’s a question of what is their obligation for using public services for public safety.”
McLaughlin said that in addition to providing some recourse in throttling cases, rural communities such as Humboldt County would benefit from the passage of the net neutrality bill.
“It gives Humboldt a voice to the rest of the world,” he said. “Without an open internet, they are only hearing from population centers, not small areas like ours. … Open internet supports small business and entrepreneurs like we see in our community. Closed internet supports big box. It’s like open highway, closed highway. What if only the stores on the highway had big-box stores? The economy of the rural community relies on open access to the world.”
In Sacramento on Friday, legislators convened a special meeting to look into the situation regarding Verizon’s throttling of data for first responders.
North Coast legislators signed on to sending a letter to Verizon’s CEO calling for assurances a similar situation would not occur again.
“Firefighters trying to coordinate fire attacks and evacuations and who were busy saving lives and structures couldn’t communicate with each other,” the letter stated. “When they explained to your company about the slowdown and the emergency situation, and asked for your company’s help, the answer wasn’t just ‘no,’ but was in fact met with a sales pitch. The department was forced to spend their time figuring out how to buy an upgraded plan, instead of fighting fire … .”
McGuire called it “corporate irresponsibility at its highest.”
“We need to make sure the safety of our communities, the brave firefighters and all first responders are prioritized over profit for the corporation,” McGuire said in a statement release after the hearing. “We stand united and will work together to ensure this dangerous practice of throttling first responders will never happen again here in the Golden State.”
McGuire did not respond to questions specifically about SB 822 before the Times-Standard publishing deadline Monday.
Ruth Schneider can be reached at 707-441-0520
