Throttling firefighters' data?!?
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Paov,
With wildfires raging across British Columbia and California, people... across North America have been looking for ways to help out.
But Verizon? They saw a chance to make money.
Just weeks after the repeal of Net Neutrality went into effect in the U.S., Verizon throttled California's Santa Clara County Fire Department’s data speeds as they were responding to the crisis, demanding they switch to a new contract charging twice as much.1
This is exactly the kind of abuse Net Neutrality is intended to prevent—and the outrage at Verizon’s shameless abuse is creating new momentum to restore the protections the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repealed earlier this year. Will you chip in to help keep up the pressure?
Yes, I’ll make a donation to help restore Net Neutrality.
We predicted that without Net Neutrality, corporations like Verizon would start dumping people on an Internet slow lane unless they could pay extra. Ajit Pai, the former Verizon lawyer in charge of the FCC, said that was nonsense.
But even we didn’t think Verizon would be this shameless, dumping firefighters onto their slow lane while they were risking their lives to protect the rest of us.
And make no mistake, if we don’t win the fight on Net Neutrality in the U.S., Big Telecom lobbyists will turn their attention to Canada, and try to undermine our own protections.
Verizon issued a press release saying that the throttling of the Santa Clara County Fire Department was just one big mistake. But no one’s buying it.
Santa Clara County itself issued a statement saying, "Verizon's throttling has everything to do with Net Neutrality—it shows that the ISPs will act in their economic interests, even at the expense of public safety. That is exactly what the Trump Administration's repeal of Net Neutrality allows and encourages."2
The only good thing about this scandal is that it shines a light on the need for strong Net Neutrality protections. So we’re taking action by calling on Congress to hold hearings to demand answers from Verizon and calling on members of Congress—especially those in California and other states hit by wildfires—to stand with their constituents.
Verizon just showed why they can’t be trusted. Will you chip in to help demand Congress overrule the FCC and save Net Neutrality?
DONATE NOWYours for an open Internet,
Katy, and the whole team at OpenMedia
Footnotes:
[1] Verizon throttled fire department’s “unlimited” data during Calif. wildfire: Ars Technica
[2] Fire dept. rejects Verizon’s “customer support mistake” excuse for throttling: Ars Technica
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