Last week T-Mobile loudly crowed that with the addition of YouTube, more than 50 video services are now cap-exempt under the company's Binge On zero rating service. But the company also quietly began more heavily exempting another kind of video content from usage caps: porn. Porn outfit Mikandi was added to T-Mobile's list of cap-exempt services without much fanfare, though Mikandi CEO Jesse Adams is obviously happy about the added, uh, exposure.
"T-Mobile is treating adults like adults and we hope that other tech companies follow in their footsteps," the CEO told
Engadget.
Back when Binge On launched, the company proclaimed that any video provider could apply and participate in the program, provided they met the company's published technical requirements. Participating video content is throttled back to 1.5 Mbps, or about 480p quality.
“If you are on your phone and you’re surfing porn, you’re going to pay overages,” Legere said at the original announcement. When asked whether or not the company would be criticized for including adult entertainment, Legere quipped: “Let me go through their surfing history for the last two years and check their cleanliness.”
Critics like the
EFF and Stanford Professor
Barbara van Schewick argue that the program violates net neutrality by putting some companies (and now some porn providers) at a distinct disadvantage, but T-Mobile have countered by arguing that consumers (and now content partners) can opt out of the program at any time.