Speaking to an audience at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has slammed California for even thinking about going against his holier-than-thou word on net neutrality.

It’s a divisive topic which doesn’t seem to want to go away, but Pai and his cronies can’t have imagined there would be this much of a backlash against the demise of federal net neutrality rules. Resistance was bound to be expected, though it now appears the disagreement is about to escalate into another state versus federal battle ground.

“The broader problem is that California’s micromanagement poses a risk to the rest of the country,” said Pai. “After all, broadband is an interstate service; Internet traffic doesn’t recognize state lines. It follows that only the federal government can set regulatory policy in this area. For if individual states like California regulate the Internet, this will directly impact citizens in other states.”

While this statement reeks of PR, Pai is not incorrect. The internet industry is a beast which rarely recognises international borders, take the Silicon Valley approach to taxes as an example, so how destructive will it be if all states take their own approach to regulating the digital highway? This is not to say Pai is correct in creating a digital wild west where the FCC has as much influence over the telcos as a dog over its tail, but in protesting the FCC’s position California is creating an immensely complicated landscape.