I would argue that the full impact of what is possible wasn't very visible until certain companies got caught doing MITM advertising injections and other questi

I would argue that the full impact of what is possible wasn't very visible until certain companies got caught doing MITM advertising injections and other questionable tactics (eg Verizon; Googling suggests HN started noticing them and others circa 2014 or so). As far as "simply blowing the situation out of proportion because Republicans did it", it has been pretty obvious that Republicans have been aligned with the telco / big cable companies (as opposed to content companies) for a while. Maybe some are surprised and shocked, but personally I have no problem with this action highlighting that there are differences between current political parties beyond the usual social politics and political memes.