Delegate-Elect Lee Carter files “Right to Repair” and state-level net neutrality bills

Nice work by Del.-elect Lee Carter; if this is “socialist” or whatever the right wingnuts call Lee Carter, I want more of it!

Delegate-Elect Carter files “Right to Repair” and state-level net neutrality bills

Richmond, VA – Delegate-Elect Lee Carter (D-50) has filed two bills focused on consumer choice and protection – a “Right to Repair” bill and a state-level net neutrality bill.

Following the decision by the FCC at the end of 2017, Carter had announced he would be filing the state-level net neutrality bill to protect Virginians from the negative impacts of the FCC’s decision.

Carter’s HB 468 is being co-patroned by Delegate Mark Cole (R-88). The bill will prohibit companies like Apple and Google from impeding the function of a digital device sold to a customer, if that customer decides to take the device to a third-party independent repair shop.

“As it stands right now, if you buy an iPhone and you want to bring it to a local repair shop instead of the Apple Store, the law allows Apple to turn your phone into an $800 paperweight. This is a consumer choice and consumer protection issue. When you buy that device, you should own it,” said Carter.

And Carter’s HB 705 state-level net neutrality bill aims to protect Virginia’s residents from the FCC’s rollback by prohibiting an Internet service provider from blocking, prioritizing, and throttling certain types of online content, for Internet service in the Commonwealth.

“This legislation is looking at the ‘last mile’ of the consumer pipeline, where Virginia customers get Internet access from big telecommunications providers – like Comcast – in their homes. Having a free and open Internet is paramount not only for Virginia’s residents, but for small businesses and organizations that rely on existing access, pricing, and open competition for their content online,” said Carter.