You may have heard telcoms shills declaring that America's internet is holding up during the pandemic while Europe's is collapsing, and it's all thanks to @AjitPaiFCC's murder of #NetNeutrality. As @karlbode writes, "This entire narrative is fantasy."
techdirt.com/articles/20200…
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techdirt.com/articles/20200…
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Generally networks have help up well in most places because they're managed by engineers who are good at their jobs. The EU's request to streaming companies to lower their video resolution by 25% was a pre-emptive precautionary measure, not a response to actual problems.
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The actual data reveals that, irrespective of Net Neutrality policies, most networks are generally performing at the same level.
That level is...not good, overall. After the FCC killed Net Neutrality, the carriers' network investment plummeted.
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That level is...not good, overall. After the FCC killed Net Neutrality, the carriers' network investment plummeted.
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The carriers extracted the savings from starving their network upgrade budget and paid them out to shareholders in a series of ruinous stock buybacks that let rich people cash out tax-free, thanks to the Trump #TaxScam.
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As Bode points out, the carriers don't need to make false claims about how great network discrimination is for Americans because FCC employees - who used to work for the carriers! - will make those claims for them, at public expense.
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Bode: "It takes a particular type of person to look at a brutal pandemic and think that it provides a wonderful opportunity to justify one of the most controversial, scandal prone, and fact-averse regulatory policy decisions in modern history."
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