None of us like lag. It ruins our games. We've always been highly vocal about this issue towards Bungie, and for good reason. However, we may soon see the servers of Destiny 2 flooded with red bars, and it won't be the player's, nor Bungie's fault.
The FCC, a part of the U.S government that regulates communications, cable, broadband, and internet, is planning on pushing the plan to remove Net Neutrality protections. I won't go into the nitty gritty, as there's a lot of technical stuff to it, but imagine it as this: the Internet will become cable.
Do you wanna browse Netflix? Well you'll have to buy your ISP's (Internet Service Provider) [b]Television Pack[/b], containing the ability to access sites like Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix. If you aren't willing to pay that extra monthly fee, you'll be blocked from entering those sites.
What does this have to do with Destiny? Well, let's say that Time Warner wants Bungie and Activision to pay them a monthly fee, or else they'll throttle the speeds of their customers when playing Destiny 2. Not only will this be commonplace, it will be [b]perfectly legal[/b]. Don't believe that it would happen? They [b]already did it to League of Legends and Netflix[/b], and it's not even legal right now.
https://www.polygon.com/2017/2/9/14548880/time-warner-lawsuit-new-york-league-of-legends-netflix
So, if Net Neutrality protections are revoked, expect ISPs to charge you in the same way they do cable for the ability to go to certain sites. If they don't like a site, such as 4chan or b.net, they can slow your access to it, and there's nothing you can do about it. They can tell Bungie to pay up, and if they don't, all their customers will become red bars in Destiny 2.
How can you help stop this? Today, July 12, is the big day to protest and make a fuss. Email and call your state representative, let all your friends and family know, rally support. If we don't let Congress know our opinions in as huge a manner as possible, they will allow the Internet to become a place that ISPs can freely and legally exploit.
[b]Nobody wants a Crucible match filled with red bars. Help save the internet.[/b]
Check out https://www.fightforthefuture.org for more info and ways to help.
EDIT: Wow, the support for this has been nothing short of incredible! Thank you to everyone who's been voicing your support. However, there are two details I want to talk about.
One: This goes much further than red bars in the Crucible. This issue is completely and utterly anti-American. Those who are saying so in this thread are completely right. I used the example of red bars as a way to show this subforum that this affects [b]everyone[/b] in the U.S with an internet connection, and more than a few outside the States as well.
Two: This is not a red vs. blue issue. Ajit Pai, the head of the FCC, is not doing this because he is Republican. He is doing it because he's a former Verizon lawyer who is supporting these huge corporations. This is not the time to bicker over who's at fault; now is the time to band together and let Congress know that [b]people care.[/b]
EDIT 2: A tiny couple of people believe that we can't do anything, that the internet is doomed already. To them, and to anybody who's reading this, I want you to look at this.
https://imgur.com/a/vYVet?
We aren't alone. Thank you all for caring.
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Edited by Matsudaira: 7/13/2017 11:39:12 PMYay for propaganda. Here's one -- NN as it exists today should be disbanded. If you're so keen on government protected internet access, petition your government to make a federal network that you can use. Leave the free market to fight and evolve as it's always done without the government holding it back with useless, costly regulations. Everything the government touches in the market turns to garbage. If you think NN is such a great idea -- go ask for a welfare network you can use so the rest of us can pay for the best. Like we always have. Tidbit -- health industry is a mess because of the regulations the government has mandated that kills competition. This allows a provider to charge you $500 for a 30 minute consultation because the "insurance" will pick it up. Prices like that wouldn't happen if the market was free. Look at the auto insurance market. It's unregulated by the Feds, unlike health and it's far more competitive. FDA approval is also what keeps many life saving products from ever seeing the light of day because of the expensive bureaucracy involved with testing and approving. Many solutions are tested out of business. FDA is also the reason that medication can cost over $1,000 a month for some people - it creates scarcity. I'm not saying no to the FDA, but be careful what you wish for. Our government wasn't created to manage the economy, the free market. Think about what you're wishing for when you condemn the free market to whim of the corrupt government that can't run a simple DMV level business. I sit at 200Mbps. A friend in FL sits at 15Mbps, with the national average being around 5Mbps. The government isn't going to fix that problem, they created it when they slammed business out of the markets from astronomical fees and regulations to lay piping.