Blocking Steemit.com: Another Reason to Hate Comcast
Truth be told, it's been a while since I've had a good reason to hate Comcast. I remember back in the day (over a decade ago) they would throttle your Internet if you used too much bandwidth, then if you asked them about it they would deny it was happening.
I vividly recall a very strange error from back in those times. We would use a voice chat program called Ventrilo and someone who had Comcast would talk but no one would hear what they were saying. Minutes later everything they had been saying for the last 5 minutes would all come out in 30 seconds. All the packets would get delayed and then pass through all at once. Very weird indeed.
The monopoly that these ISPs hold is legendary. Building new infrastructure to compete with the old companies is virtually impossible and certainly not profitable.
Ah well, Comcast is at it again!
I haven't been able to access Steemit.com from my computer for 3 days now. This is a problem that I thought would correct itself. However, upon accessing the Comcast account linked to my house (set up by a roommate) I found this little gem:
Hm, yep...
As the title of this post denotes, Comcast is now blocking Steemit.com as a security threat and not letting me access it. Even clicking that "allow access for one hour" button doesn't work. I can access Steemit.com from my phone if I don't use the Wifi, and I can access Steemit.com from my computer if I use a VPN. Otherwise, no dice.
But why?
Is it a coincidence that Steemit.com was just acquired by a Chinese entity? Probably not. I have to assume this is either an attack on crypto itself in general or against Chinese-owned companies. Definitely leaning toward the acquisition by Justin Sun.
VPN?
Maybe now is a good time for me to actually buy a monthly subscription to a VPN. I currently only have 500 MB bandwidth with this free version. Honestly, I've been looking for an excuse to do so. Perhaps this is it.
Consumer affairs blog The Consumerist named Comcast "Worst Company in America" in 2010 and 2014. The company received the "Golden Poo" award to its Philadelphia headquarters in commemoration of the victory. The company also finished in the "top" three in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2013.
Conclusion
Hate for Comcast runs deep and has a rich history. All of these hate memes we found on Google images under the simple yet elegant, "fuck comcast" search parameters. I'm pretty sure they are also lying about how much bandwidth we are using because they keep trying to say we are going over the terabyte monthly limit. Bloodsuckers, we don't use that much bandwidth. I even downloaded a program to make sure I wasn't using as much as I was being told I was.
