Ars Technica reports:
Comcast spokesperson Sena Fitzmaurice has been claiming that we got the story wrong. But a further examination of how Comcast’s net neutrality promises have changed over time reveals another interesting tidbit—Comcast deleted a “no paid prioritization” pledge from its net neutrality webpage on the very same day that the Federal Communications Commission announced its initial plan to repeal net neutrality rules.
Starting in 2014, the webpage contained this statement: “Comcast doesn’t prioritize Internet traffic or create paid fast lanes.” That statement remained on the page until April 26 of this year, according to page captures from the Internet Archive’s WayBack Machine.
But on April 27, the paid prioritization pledge was nowhere to be found on that page and remains absent now. What changed? It was on April 26 that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced the first version of his plan to eliminate net neutrality rules. Since then, Pai has finalized his repeal plan, and the FCC will vote to drop the rules on December 14.
sooooooooo…. remember how yesterday Comcast’s spokesperson was telling every journalist on Twitter that I got that big viral story all wrong?
my thanks to the @internetarchive for providing the awesome WayBack Machine that I used for this new story: https://t.co/mZ6TLhNPHi
— The real Jon Brodkin (@jbrodkin) November 29, 2017
See, I told you! #NetNeutrality isn’t even dead yet and @comcast already changed their pledge just today to include they will allow paid prioritization once it’s repealed. What a bunch of liars! Please spread this! https://t.co/9e5uMqvVzu
— Barnacules Nerdgasm (@Barnacules) November 30, 2017
LOL. Wow already ISPs quietly removing their promises & pledges not to screw us over even before the vote, they know what’s going down on December 14th. Trust them my ass. We NEED Regulation!https://t.co/aieUCfTox4
— Joe Vargas (@AngryJoeShow) November 30, 2017
“Comcast deleted net neutrality pledge the same day FCC announced repeal” https://t.co/ZQlsTFo8HJ uses evidence from the Wayback Machine. pic.twitter.com/ePzByceitQ
— Internet Archive (@internetarchive) November 29, 2017
Comcast changed its net neutrality pledge the day after the FCC moved to kill the open webhttps://t.co/DKz2E6WkkG pic.twitter.com/o43a21IXZL
— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) November 30, 2017