Verizon to fire department: you're exceeding your bandwidth while you fight wildfires, so we're throttling you

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/21/fire-bad-verizon-worse.html

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hopefully there will be a fitting outcome if there is a fire at verizons headquarters.

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Why would firefighters need so much bandwidth? Downloading awesome training videos?

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Oh NOW they’re sorry, now that they accidentally fucked with somebody bigger than them

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“sorry, if you want this hose to operate at maximum bandwidth you’ll have to speak to our billing department”

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Not shocked nor surprised, but I am disappointed that they demonstrated their assholery so blatantly. I actually thought they were a little smarter than this.

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Show videos from drones where the fires are travelling. (Realtime footage from drones are BW eater #1)

Show current setup of equipment to make firebreaks and progress.

Realtime streaming of firefighting efforts (bodycam footage isn’t only for cops)

Maybe some music or video for (rare) downtime moments.

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This is a modern variant on the plug ugly scam

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I currently live in BC (Canada’s wildfire capital). Drone sensor footage is invaluable for locating
A) actual fires
B) areas with above average risk and dryness (look for dead patches of forest where borer beetles have killed trees and crated patches of deadwood ripe for fires)
C) after firefighting efforts have occurred, drones are checking for hotspots where the fire is not yet out but burning underground. Firefighters also have to check these locations out as well but every tool helps.
D) identifying pyromaniacical idiots that express their devotion to dying in a multimillion dollar forest fire by disregarding fire bans so they can toast marshmallows and roast weiners.

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Firefighters also need telecommunications so they can get the calls telling them where the fires are.

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What do the following all have in common?
Telecom Companies
Pharmaceutical Companies
Chemical Companies
Health Insurance Companies
Agribusiness Companies

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Maybe a trumpish sense of entitlement to fuck over anybody and everybody?

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Regulatory capture?

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They might be running some kind of distributed group situational awareness application, like Sitaware or Nett Warrior. Yes, they’re technically military C2 tools, but the same basic C2 and situational awareness problem exists for firefighters too.

To be honest, given the scale of the event, and the combined^-joint^ nature of the fight, I’d be astonished if they weren’t.

^ Combined - multiple nations. AFAICT, Australia, NZ, Mexico, and Canada have firefighters on the ground there.
^ Joint - multiple services. A number of distinct fire services and types of fire service, US military of various flavours, fixed and rotary wing aircraft, medical support, logistics, etc. All need to know what the other is doing, where they’re doing it, and - especially for the a/c - when they’re doing it. Fires also move fast, so being able to track that and distribute the current state to everyone is very useful.

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This is not a mistake. This is the specifically intended result of killing Net Neutrality.

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If there’s a fire at the Verizon offices, I hope the firefighters turn down their hoses to .5% capacity until Verizon pays them extortionate tribute.

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I should hope so.

Of course, providers have had, abandoned, and then restored data caps before the dismantling of net neutrality – I’m thinking of Comcast, but really all of these mammoth corporations share Satan’s shriveled left testicle in the place where their souls should be.

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Verizon has been horrible forfreakingever. It’s endemic, chronic, can’t change evil badness in their cold, unbeating, corporate heart. It goes back to when we had pagers instead of cel phones. I will never, ever do business with them. #FuckVerizon

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image
/s

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If it can be proven to the necessary standard for a civil court that houses burned because of Verizon’s actions, could they be sued by the affected homeowners?

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