Reminder: Net Neutrality matters

For people who might be thinking that Net Neutrality is an abstract, purely theoretical thing that will never impact them directly, we now have a very stark demonstration of exactly why and how it can become a matter of life and death.

From arstechnica:

A fire department whose data was throttled by Verizon Wireless while it was fighting California's largest-ever wildfire has rejected Verizon's claim that the throttling was just a customer service error and "has nothing to do with net neutrality."

[...]

Verizon yesterday acknowledged that it shouldn't have continued throttling Santa Clara County Fire Department's "unlimited" data service while the department was battling the Mendocino Complex Fire. Verizon said the department had chosen an unlimited data plan that gets throttled to speeds of 200kbps or 600kbps after using 25GB a month but that Verizon failed to follow its policy of "remov[ing] data speed restrictions when contacted in emergency situations."

"This was a customer support mistake" and not a net neutrality issue, Verizon said.

Santa Clara County disputed Verizon's characterization of the problem in a press release last night. "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," County Counsel James Williams said on behalf of the county and fire department. "That is exactly what the Trump Administration's repeal of net neutrality allows and encourages."

I haven't any reports linking Verizon's greed directly to any injuries or deaths, but it's not hard at all to imagine a number of ways that this could have gone horribly, horribly wrong:

The throttling affected a device on a fire department vehicle that is "deployed to large incidents as a command and control resource" and is used to "track, organize, and prioritize routing of resources from around the state and country to the sites where they are most needed," Fire Chief Anthony Bowden wrote in a court declaration. Internet access is crucial "for events like large fires which require the rapid deployment and organization of thousands of personnel and hundreds of fire engines, aircraft, and bulldozers," he wrote.

Worse yet? Verizon didn't end the throttling until "after County Fire subscribed to a new, more expensive plan." And that, folks, is some serious corporate bullshit. Seriously, fuck Verizon.

The next time you head to the polls, take the time to learn about the Net Neutrality stances of the candidates that will be on that ballot. Picking the right one might literally save lives.