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Comcast Gives 6 Months Free Internet To Poor and Unpaid Bill Amnesty
An anonymous reader writes with news about a controversial Comcast program designed to give internet access to the poor that just got a little better. After complaints about a program that offers cheap Internet service to poor people, Comcast today announced it will provide "up to six months" of free Internet to new subscribers and an "amnesty" program for families with unpaid bills. Comcast's Internet Essentials, mandated by the federal government when Comcast acquired NBCUniversal, gives $10-per-month Internet service to low-income households with schoolchildren. Critics have argued that the program is too hard to sign up for, that eligibility criteria should be less strict, and that further requirements should be implemented if Comcast is allowed to buy Time Warner Cable.
But after the free six months is up, good luck trying to cancel the service.
Why should Portland be supplying subsidies for this?
This seems like such a waste of local tax dollars when there are plenty of Russians and Nigerians who have a vested interested in me having a life-long ability to be making outbound E-Mail connections. Why not just let them pay for it?
It's sorta like the guys at GitMo telling their guests today they get free waterboarding.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K