When the FCC ignored millions of comments and decided to repeal net neutrality, many thought that a floodgate of abuse would start by the major telcos and other communications companies.
While it seems they were smart enough not to hit everybody at once with higher rates and less service, there is a slow trickle of events that seem to point out how right consumer advocates were for being alarmed in the first place.
One case in point is Verizon’s throttling of the Santa Clara County Fire department during this summer’s Mendocino Complex Fire. California’s largest wildfire ever.
The fire department found that while an emergency response vehicle was deployed at the Mendocino Complex Fire, data rates were being throttled by Verizon to speeds that made the service unusable.
While this throttling may be just a minor headache on a weekend at a home trying to watch Netflix. I think anybody with average intelligence would be able to understand that being throttled in the middle of fighting a wildfire could turn deadly or at the very least cause widespread damage to property.
So as stated during the FCC hearings, net neutrality is not just an issue of convenience. In the 21st century where almost everything has to be connected to the Internet, it can be a matter of life and death.