the internet

Hasan Minhaj Wants to Mail You a Netflix DVD

Here is a sneak peak at the latest episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, which focused on internet inequality and the horror that is Comcast. Two broadband internet companies control the majority of American internet access, and they don’t really care if you have a quality internet connection. “America invented the internet, and yet we pay some of the highest prices,” Minhaj tells Vulture. “We are 20th in worldwide internet speed. We are being lapped by Latvia and Andorra.”

Comcast’s monopoly goes unchallenged because they lobby. They spend so much money lobbying Congress, in fact, that they said it would be too hard to disclose all of it. As a result, rural Americans, indigenous people, and neighborhoods victimized by redlining are deprived of quality internet access. That means no telemedicine, not being able to apply for jobs online, and being stuck doing your homework in McDonald’s parking lots.

The problem with making an episode of your streaming TV show about internet inequality is that the people it impacts the most have no way of seeing it. So the Patriot Act team came up with a solution: They’ll mail you a DVD. Like, in a little red envelope as if it’s 2007. “One of our researchers came in and said, ‘You know Netflix still has a DVD division, right?’” Minhaj says. “We called them up … and they were really happy to get a call from us. They were like ‘Nobody ever calls us!’ It kind of worked out perfectly.” If you have Comcast internet, you can receive a copy of this episode of Patriot Act on the oldfangled DVD and find out just how badly they are screwing you.

Hasan Minhaj Wants to Mail You a Netflix DVD