Deaf Advocacy Groups To Verizon: Don't Kill Net Neutrality On Our Behalf

Dega704 sends this quote from Ars: No company has lobbied more fiercely against network neutrality than Verizon, which filed the lawsuit that overturned the FCC's rules prohibiting ISPs from blocking and discriminating against Web content. But the absence of net neutrality rules isn't just good for Verizon—it's also good for the blind, deaf, and disabled, Verizon claims. That's what Verizon lobbyists said in talks with congressional staffers, according to a Mother Jones report last month. "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," the report said. With "fast lanes," Web services—including those designed for the blind, deaf, and disabled—could be prioritized in exchange for payment. Now, advocacy groups for deaf people have filed comments with the FCC saying they don't agree with Verizon's position."

What about the disability of the World Wide Web?

[Anonymous Coward]

The modern World Wide Web is itself in a state of disability. Long gone are the days when World Wide Web pages were lean and loaded quickly. Today we get monstrous web pages that include megabyte after megabyte of useless privacy-destroying user tracking JavaScript, unnecessarily large and pointless images, and massive CSS stylesheets necessary to give that truly hipster flair.

Then there are modern World Wide Web browsers. Chome, IE, Firefox and even Opera all now have UIs that have been dumbed down to the point of being totally useless. Good gosh, the hamburger menus of Chrome and Firefox are so jumbled and confusing these days. The configuration dialogs have lost so many useful options, too. And these browsers look totally the same! I can't tell the difference between new versions of Firefox and new versions of Chrome. They're visually identical. And these browsers are still slow as molasses, even on super fast brand new workstations.

Normal, perfectly able people become disabled these days merely by using modern World Wide Web browsers to access modern World Wide Web sites. I feel particularly sorry for those who do suffer from actual disabilities. Their World Wide Web experience must be absolutely atrocious, given how the hipsters designing modern sites and browsers don't give a rat's ass about accessibility.

Hm.

[aevan]

Is Verizon's argument that Net Neutrality is bad because they cannot ransom special groups? "allow ISPs to create Internet "fast lanes" for companies that can afford to pay for speedier service" [Emphasis mine]