How Verizon and Comcast are working to ensure states don’t pass their own net neutrality bills

Comcast and Verizon have both asked the Federal Communications Commission to make clear that the FCC's new policy on network neutrality — which could be put to a vote as early as Dec — will preempt state and local regulations that might read differently. The request marks the industry's latest step to weaken federal rules that regulate broadband companies like legacy telephone companies. The broadband industry fears that even if the FCC succeeds in deregulating, states could take steps “countermanding” the federal agency's decision, according to the Verizon white paper. “Allowing every State and locality to chart its own course for regulating broadband is a recipe for disaster,” the company said. "It would impose localized and likely inconsistent burdens on an inherently interstate service." Then there's the question of whether state and local preemption could wind up being a double-edged sword. A conclusion by today's FCC that its looser net neutrality rules are the law of the land, and that state variants will have no effect, may help Internet providers this time. But a future FCC that adopts stricter rules against the industry's wishes might be treated the same way.