Finally, some good news in regards to Net Neutrality. Washington State passed it’s own law on Tuesday to protect net neutrality. This is a huge first step in protecting the open and free internet. The passing of net neutrality by the FCC back on December 14th was a big loss to America. Not just because the passing of the law meant the internet will become slower and more expensive, but because in the face of huge public outcry, the government still ignored the people’s wishes and passed the bill anyway. Not to sound like a big skeptic and conspiracy theorist, but it seems about once a week we are given an obvious reminder that it is power and money that constitute what is done in the government. So this new local law passed by Washington’s leaders is a nice change.

Washington has become a strong example of a state that’s interest is aligned with that of its people. Their new bill was signed by both houses of legislature with bipartisan agreement and just needs to be signed by the governor. The bill will disallow ISPs from intentionally blocking or slowing internet traffic as well as selling faster speeds at a premium.

This is a great win for the internet as we know it, but as you might have thought, the FCC isn’t going down without a fight. The law passed back in December restricts states and local jurisdictions from passing their own net neutrality laws. So there will be a legal battle between the state and FCC. One can only hope that Washington will come out on top here and continue to lay the groundwork for other states to follow in its footsteps. There are already 25 other states that introduced their own net neutrality laws, and if Washington is able to win in court against the FCC, so will the other states. One can only hope we will be able to keep the Age of Information open and free.