Verizon: Net Neutrality Hurts Disabled People Verizon's latest attempt to thwart real net neutrality protections? Claim that passing consumer protection laws that maintain an open Internet will hurt the disabled. According to Mother Jones, that's the story that Verizon lobbyists are currently using in their support of Tom Wheeler's latest net neutrality proposal, which has been soundly criticized for trying to use shaky legal authority to pass rules that don't adequately protect consumers from anti-competitive behavior. The base of Verizon's logic appears to be that if you ban "fast lanes," you'd potentially ban services that could help the disabled, even though most people with a rudimentary grasp of the debate understand that's a red herring. Curiously, the deaf and disabled are surprised to learn that they're being used as a tool to fight net neutrality: quote: Three Hill sources tell Mother Jones that Verizon lobbyists have cited the needs of blind, deaf, and disabled people to try to convince congressional staffers and their bosses to get on board with the fast lane idea. But groups representing disabled Americans, including the National Association of the Deaf, the National Federation of the Blind, and the American Association of People with Disabilities are not advocating for this plan. Mark Perriello, the president and CEO of the AAPD, says that this is the "first time" he has heard "these specific talking points." You can generally get a sense of how tough Tom Wheeler's latest You can generally get a sense of how tough Tom Wheeler's latest effort at net neutrality rules is by the fact that AT&T and Verizon actually like them. AT&T believes that Wheeler " has it right " in his attempt to pass rules that don't do much of anything, and both companies particularly like the fact that the proposal can't even be bothered to cover wireless, where most of their anti-competitive and anti-consumer behavior usually occurs Wheeler and the FCC of course would argue that these rules aren't final yet, and there's still time to submit your comments. However it's unclear what those comments will be worth in the face of an ocean of incumbent ISP misinformation and cash. Regardless, it's the epitome of class when you try to use the deaf, blind and disabled to protect your revenues. "Nice Internet-powered pace maker yer grandma's got there," you can almost hear Verizon saying with a heavy Jersey accent. "It'd be a shame were somethin' bad to happen to it." Regardless, it's the epitome of class when you try to use the deaf, blind and disabled to protect your revenues. "Nice Internet-powered pace maker yer grandma's got there," you can almost hear Verizon saying with a heavy Jersey accent. "It'd be a shame were somethin' bad to happen to it."







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