just42

Long-form article in NYTimes in July of last year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/02/magazine/dead-pig-brains-...

"not load" - nothing happens and eventually connection timed out (unfortunately I don't have exact recollection if there was a message or just nothing happened). But I did research it and closest evidence I found that this was not a technical issue but deliberate blocking was from some discussion on Center for Internet Security: https://cis-india.org/internet-governance/blog/reliance-jio-...

I am not sure why I am biting this, but here goes: If you are the only Internet people know and can afford, it doesn't matter if you are a private entity or the Govt.

I can't satisfy your curiosity because I too also sincerely don't know what flavor of undesirable behavior a monopoly creates but that they create bad behavior is as intuitive to me as is breathing to anyone else.

A first person anecodote which doesn't necessarily further my point but still - I had Jio fiber installed for a relative, I was visiting in a small north Indian town - unbelievable price, offering, everything great. But it took me 3 days of multiple hours on the phone, and I still couldn't access Hackernews, or reddit or even New York Times. Pages for these and quite a few other sites just wouldn't load. The first canned response - 'Reliance only blocks what the Govt. has told it to block' (paraphrasing). I didn't anymore have the energy to analyze if it was a technical problem, casual censorship or just customer service issues because of fast scaling.

So no solace, because it's even worse. Jio is a bigger danger than FB to us Indians, we just don’t seem to realize/care (as in being an information monopoly). I don’t think even Jio realizes it. They may believe that they are doing God’s service in providing affordable 21st century services to the masses. But that’s how the really bad stuff usually starts.

(throwaway account to protect friends at Waymo) data points of 2: 1. took a ride, at one point a sudden violent sewering and breaking for no apparent reason - explanation from the backup driver - the truck in the next lane was too close. Then it couldn't take a left turn into the parking lot in front of Waymo HQ and was just stuck even though the maneuver was simplest to anyone. remote driver couldn't do it anything and backup driver had to do the 'normal driving'. 2: spoke to someone (again a waymo employee and her friend) just after the ride and the friend was visibly shaken and verbatim expression "worst ride of my life". This is all around the MV campus and in the last couple of months. So Waymo's claim seems way off unless they are talking about absolutely fixed paths, much like a public transit and maybe, just even then, a big maybe.