By Ernesto Falcon And Katharine Trendacosta
In August, it was revealed that Verizon throttled the wireless broadband services of fire fighters in the middle of a state emergency and spent four weeks debating with the local fire department while trying to upsell them a more expensive plan. This week, the Santa Clara Board of County Supervisors held a hearing to review what happened during the state's worst fire in history. The hearing revealed that, Verizon's statements to the contrary, nothing about this public safety issue has been resolved.
EFF testified at the hearing to provide an understanding as to the legal and technical issues that are part of the conflict to assist the county in its review. In addition, EFF believes Verizon's conduct would have subjected them to penalties under the 2015 Open Internet Order, because the actions by Verizon's sales team appeared to be unjust and unreasonable under Title II of the Communications Act. Verizon have fully admitted that they were at fault and wrong to have engaged in the conduct and have offered to end some of the business practices that led to the problem for the west coast states and Hawaii.