Web hosting company NeoCities is throttling all connections from the FCC to its site to 28.8kbps, until the FCC signs up for an exclusive, $1000 a year subscription plan to remove the cap. Lots of companies on the web are complainingabout the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to trash net neutrality, but one of them is actually doing something about it. NeoCities, a free, open-source web hosting company, has dropped the hammer on connections from the FCC to its site.
Sometimes, the best way to get back at someone who’s done you wrong is to give them a taste of their own medicine. Earlier this month, it was revealed that the Federal Communication Commision’s (maybe) soon-to-be-released set of new rules would effectively end net neutrality by allowing Internet service providers (ISPs) to throttle online traffic from Web content providers who don’t pay them a toll. Not particularly thrilled with the prospect of an Internet where some companies can pay for fast access to consumers and those without sufficiently deep pockets are relegated to second-tier status, Kyle Brand, founder of Web hosting company NeoCities, came up with a brilliant idea: show employees at the FCC exactly what it feels like to have their Internet connections slowed to a crawl.
I have to wonder how much traffic there might be between the FCC and NeoCities.