Net Neutrality: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters use it as the go-to funny, accessible explanation of net neutrality and credit it with driving public comments to the FCC.
What it is
John Oliver's 13-minute Last Week Tonight segment explains the 2014 net neutrality fight over cable companies creating unequal internet speeds. It uses comedy to make a dull regulatory topic engaging and tells viewers how to comment to the FCC.
Recommended by 7 HN commenters across 6 different months, 2014 to 2017.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec felipesabino · 2014-09 · on “There Are Only Two Weeks Left to Comment on Net Neutrality”
What was that? I am so disappointed to see that they featured a video showing net neutrality being ONLY about facebook, youtube and more video streaming... If they wanted to go mainstream, John Oliver did a much better job (and funnier, btw) [this video]
Strong rec e0m · 2015-01 · on “The Net Neutrality Bait and Switch”
In case you haven't seen John Oliver's take on Net Neutrality, this video is 13 minutes well spent: [this video] "Tom Wheeler is [like] a dingo"
Strong rec musha68k · 2016-11 · on “European Union dedicated questionnaire on the Encryption of Data”
What can a "hacker" possibly have against John Oliver? He and his team were the most effective drivers for stronger Net Neutrality policies in the US. The man is a living legend. Edit: 12 million views on the abstract topic of Net Neutrality. That's what I would call a feat indeed: [this video]
Recommends danesparza · 2014-06 · on “Netflix responds to Verizon”
I agree that our bandwidth to price ratio is shitty in this country. But until we have viable competition in THIS country, our rates won't come down. John Oliver's rant on Net Neutrality (ironically on HBO) sums this up pretty nicely: [this video]
Recommends spuiszis · 2014-07 · on “Verizon's accidental mea culpa”
I have Comcast as well and it's gotten because of the deal Netflix struck with them... [LINK] EDIT: John Oliver also talks quite eloquently about this as well: [this video]
Recommends shmerl · 2017-11 · on “FCC plan would give Internet providers power to choose the sites customers see”
John Oliver found a good way to explain it: [this video] [LINK] The problem is that ISP shills that make these decisions don't care about public opposition. They aren't elected officials.
Recommends sunnykgupta · 2017-11 · on “Join the Battle for Net Neutrality”
While we are on the topic, may I bring up John Oliver's June 1 2014 episode. [this video] tl;dw - For those who want to understand how closely the government is related to those who benefit from NO net-neutrality.
Cites vmarquet · 2017-08 · on “72% of Consumers Don't Know What Net Neutrality Is”
I thought this was quite high, since the net neutrality issue had a lot of coverage in the media, see for example the two John Oliver talks about it: [this video] [LINK]