T-Mobile CEO Responds To Critics
When the Electronic Frontier Foundation asked about T-Mobile's "Binge On" program, T-Mobile CEO John Legere responded scathingly:
"So what Binge On does, it includes a proprietary technology, and what the technology does is not only detect the video stream but select the appropriate bit rate to optimize to the mobile device. That's Part A of my answer. Part B of my answer is, who the f*** are you, anyway, EFF? Why are you stirring up so much trouble? And, who pays you?"
EFF, a 25-year-old 501(c)(3) funded by donors, brought up the question during a Twitter Q&A held by T-Mobile. The nonprofit claims that through tests it ran, it discovered that T-Mobile was throttling bandwidth for all videos—whether or not they were part of the "Binge On" program. "Binge On" was also automatically implemented for all customers, even those with unlimited data. (Instead, EFF says T-Mobile could have made it an opt-in service.)
Legere has since apologized for "offending EFF," though he says that T-Mobile's service does not go against net neutrality.
