Joe Biden’s Department of Veteran’s Affairs is warning that California’s “net neutrality” law, which came into effect yesterday, will cut off veterans around the country from access to a key health app.
“Net neutrality” is how the Democrats have branded Title II common carrier restrictions on internet service providers like Verizon and Comcast.
Despite the branding, Title II restrictions do not truly preserve a “neutral” internet, as they do not and never have applied to technology companies (known as “edge providers”) beyond the ISP level, like Facebook, Google, and Twitter, which continue to be allowed to deny access to any person or entity that they choose.
Former President Obama’s FCC applied the regulation nationally, but it was repealed under former President Donald Trump. Democrat states like California responded by reimplementing the restrictions at the state level, but now Biden’s VA department is warning that there could be unintended consequences
Via Politico:
Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs are privately sounding the alarm that California’s new net neutrality law could cut off veterans nationwide from a key telehealth app, according to a government communication between federal agencies obtained by POLITICO.
Two internet providers in California have told the VA that the new law could force them to end agreements offering free, subsidized data to veterans participating in the telehealth app called VA Video Connect, according to the email from one VA official, who described the department as having “concerns” about the possibility. Such a cutoff “would be nationwide and not limited to Veterans and caregivers in California,” the official wrote.
The reason veterans might be cut off is because the regulations prevent ISPs from giving preferential treatment to the veterans’ health app.
In an email to FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, the VA said “two-way video can be data-intensive, and the zero-rating renders the service far more affordable for low-income and rural Veterans who purchase plans with limited monthly data allowances.” But two ISPs have warned Carr that California’s net neutrality restrictions could make their zero-rating agreement with the VA untenable.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.