Firefighters on Mendocino Complex endangered by Verizon move to limit data service, fire chief says

[JHan]

"Santa Clara County firefighters were dangerously hobbled by poor internet service while they were helping battle the monstrous Mendocino Complex fire in July because Verizon drastically slowed down the speed of its wireless data during the fire fight, the county’s fire chief contends in a federal court filing.

Despite having paid for what it thought was an unlimited data plan, the Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District saw its data flow “throttled” down to 1/200th of its usual speed as it fought the complex — now the biggest wildfire in state history — because Verizon officials said it had exceeded its plan limit, district Fire Chief Anthony Bowden wrote. This primarily hampered a specialized vehicle the department depends on to coordinate its machinery and staff in such emergencies, and Bowden said that put his battalions at risk.

Without full-speed service for the high-tech command and communications rig, which goes by the arcane name of OES 5262, Bowden wrote, “resources could be deployed to the wrong fire, the wrong part of a fire, or fail to be deployed at all. Even small delays in response translate into devastating effect, including loss of property, and, in some cases, loss of life.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/Firefighters-on-Mendocino-Complex-were-endangered-13173203.php

Verizon throttling could trigger FTC investigation of deceptive practices

"Thirteen Democratic members of Congress on Friday asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Verizon’s recent throttling of the Santa Clara County Fire Department while it was fighting California’s largest-ever wildfire.“Throttling directly violates core net neutrality principles,” the letter, led by US Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), said. “In light of the repeal of net neutrality, we urge you to investigate whether Verizon’s practices were ‘unfair or deceptive’ pursuant to Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.” The letter was sent to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons. The House members wrote to the FTC instead of the Federal Communications Commission because the latter agency ceded regulatory power to the FTC when it deregulated broadband and eliminated net neutrality rules. "

Meanwhile, "the CA legislature moved to restore a previously gutted bill - SB822 by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco as the prospect of California abandoning its efforts to create the strongest internet protections in the country prompted Congressional leaders to join the fight, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

The bill was passed two days after the Santa Clara County fire chief said in a federal court filing that his firefighters were put in danger after Verizon slowed down the speed of their wireless data while battling the massive Mendocino Complex fire in July.

The bill, which faces fierce opposition from the telecommunications industry, still needs to be approved by the full Assembly and Senate before it can reach Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk."
.......
Weiner: “We know we have a lot of work to do to get the 41 votes, but we can get there,” he said after Wednesday’s hearing."

[niyad]

1. WTF is the matter with verizon? what POSSIBLE excuse could they give for that action?

[JHan]

2. It's crazy.

And the term "net neutrality" doesn't really capture the potentially disastrous effects of ISPS which throttle or cap in this way. It's also interesting that's it's those who herald free market and "free competition" who defend this behavior. Anyway, I hope CA voters pay close attention and urge their reps to vote on the bill.

[haele]

4. What they'll claim is that the county "cheaped out" and didn't get the super deluxe business bundle.

The real question is whether or not Verison - or other cell providers - provides any emergency services contract for those types of local government agencies on the smaller side that will not throttle data use simply because they went over during an actual county-wide emergency.

I understand that Verison needs to make a profit, but it's not like this account was for a property management office, with a web-site, multiple lines, voicemail, and an emergency forwarding switchboard for after hours.
There was absolutely no reason throttling should ever have been able to be applied to an account like that.

Haele

[JHan]

5. I can see them making that argument as well.

I think it's also an opportunity to point out how health and safety rate when it comes to power and profit. The mobilizing force in this story is how deregulation hurts the average citizen, with potentially fatal consequences.

[TwistOneUp]

3. I am *so* glad ...

That I dumped Verizon. Whadda buncha greedy bastids.

[lpbk2713]

6. "We don't care about your silly little problems."

"We don't have to. We are the telephone company."

[Roland99]

7. Yay Net Neutrality!

[dansolo]

8. I don't think this has anything to do with net neutrality

Verizon didn't slow down certain net traffic. They slowed down everything when a certain threshold was reached. This is more of an issue with deceptive marketing. Net neutrality has nothing to do with this case.