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Attorneys general from forty-eight states, plus the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, launched a joint anti-trust investigation against Google on Monday, looking specifically at how the company handles online advertising. The group isn’t accusing Google of anything in particular yet, but they have their suspicions and if those prove out, an anti-trust lawsuit is sure to follow.

Only two states opted out of the investigation: Alabama and California. The absence of California attorney general Xavier Becerra from the group is puzzling to many, and he isn’t offering any hints.… More

Monday’s brief meeting of the California legislature didn’t produce any broadband-related bills, with the possible exception of a placeholder introduced by assemblyman Ed Chau (D – Los Angeles). Assembly bill 25 would amend the privacy bill that California lawmakers passed in 2018, but it doesn’t say how.

California’s new privacy law puts tight restrictions on how online companies can use customer data, and how they have to safeguard it. Chau was the author of that bill, which was passed as part of a deal to keep an even tougher privacy initiative off of the November ballot.… More