Verizon's Crocodile Tears Mask a Threat to Democracy

You may have missed it in the fine print of your agreement. Phone companies like Verizon and AT&T reserve the right to block your free speech and terminate your cell phone services "without prior notice and for any reason or no reason."

That's chilling enough, but here's the shocker. There are no laws that prevent these giant companies from censoring your speech on their networks. That's right -- free speech ends at your cell phone.

Verizon's Gag Rule

This is why Verizon recently got away with blocking text messages that NARAL Pro-Choice America wanted to send to its members.

This begs the question: "If the phone company can't tell you what to say on a phone call, then why should they be able to tell you what not to say in a text message, an e-mail or anywhere else?"

They shouldn't. But don't tell that to Verizon.

Verizon Is So Very Sorry

On Wednesday, New York State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky called two senior Verizon lawyers to testify at a hearing on their company's recent censorship of NARAL.

The lawyers groveled before the Assemblyman and his colleagues. Verizon was so very, very sorry about the incident that they changed some "dusty policies" so that this particular mistake would never, ever happen again. But when pressed they refused to relinquish their company's authority to censor other speech over their networks.

Verizon apologies should provide little comfort. Free Press has sifted through the agreements of several Internet and cell phone providers -- including Verizon and AT&T -- and found explicit language that reserves their right to cut off, block or permanently cease to provide services to anyone -- and for no reason.

Imagine that. Free speech over networks used by more than 230 million Americans can be denied at the whim of a Verizon and AT&T -- the same companies, by the way, which are now seeking retroactive immunity for illegally wiretapping Americans and handing over the results to the government.

A Wild West View of the Internet

Verizon's two lawyers went one further. They told Assemblyman Brodsky that their company should be free from any and all regulatory restraints. Above the law. Americans should simply trust that Verizon will do what's best for everyone -- as the Internet's sheriff, gatekeeper and undertaker all rolled into one.

So, do you trust Verizon to serve your interests?

Internet, email and text messaging are a final refuge for free speech -- at a time when other "mass media" have become the domain of a handful of powerful companies. We can't let the Internet slip into the hands of the same types of gatekeepers that now control most of what we see and hear over television and radio.

Policies not Apologies

Sen.Dorgan Takes a Stand

It's clear that the fundamental democratic principles of free speech and open communications are too important to entrust to corporate gatekeepers like these.

Lawmakers need to take decisive action to protect the free flow of information over 21st Century communications. The most important free-speech principle in communications law is nondiscrimination; and its most important application is Net Neutrality.

There are a few bright lights in all this telco darkness. One is Sen. Byron Dorgan who on Wednesday called for a congressional investigation into censorship on cell phones and the Internet. Earlier this year Dorgan joined with Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine to introduce the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act," which protects Net Neutrality under law. At the moment he needs your support and support from his colleagues on Capitol Hill.

Another bright light is New York Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. At the end of his hearing this week, he pledged to re-draft and re-introduce state level legislation that would prevent phone and cable companies from smothering the free flow of information over Internet and cell phone networks in New York

Free Speech for the 21st Century

And then there's this constellation: more than 1.5 million Americans who have called for baseline protections to our freedom to chose where we go, what we say and whom we say it to every time we boot up our computers or pick up our cell phones.

We are facing down one of the most powerful corporate lobbies Washington has ever seen. We need to match the hundreds of millions of dollars they spend to strong arm legislators, rewrite the law and distort democracy with the voices of millions more who believe the Internet must remain free, open and available to everyone.

We must fight for freedom of speech, right now in a digital world, as stubbornly as we fought for at our nation's founding.

Follow Timothy Karr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TimKarr

Comments

[magen]

Please, please, please.

Every progressive here who has ANY Verizon services should change them as soon as they can.

The only language these corporate neanderthals understand is greed and money. Let's speak with our wallets.

[sparafucilli]

Verizon et al operate in a "Free Market" and, as any right thinking American knows, free markets should be free of all government regulation. After all that is the best way to ensure total employment, no inflation, reasonable profits and happiness for all. And since it is a free market open to all competitors there must be plenty out there willing to provide the service at the customer's terms. There isn't? Hmmmmmmmm. Better report this to the Chicago School and get our Reagonomics back on track.

[protagonia]

My friend was just about to get the I Phone, but it's with ATT, so he said he'll wait two years for the product to unlock.

[ang4ever]

This censorship - could be another appendage of the Patriot Act - data mining. I am afraid that our government can elbow any corporations, or else they lose their contracts. It allows the government to
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That reminds me of Vonage - the only company to refused to turn over customer data info without the proper authorizations.
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Life is just getting much tougher for the average citizen - we are about to get stripped of all our civil liberties. All in the name of perceived threats.
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LOL !

[MikeDu]

"...could be another appendage of the Patriot Act "

That's been my concern about the so-called Patriot Act all along. That they *say* they're searching for terrorists but instead they're digging up dirt on opponents of their right-wing masters. Hard to argue blocking of pro-choice text message content is at all related to national security.

[TheQuestion]

Well said.

Without free speech & free comunication we are all just isolated citizens with no power. Perhaps that is what some of the power brokers would like to see.

[Chris]

Read the US constituion. Congress shall pass no laws. No were does it address the actions of private enterprise and free speech.

[CaptainObvious]

Well, Congress could well pass the laws, but it's traditionally been up to the SCOTUS to determine which ones are Constitutional, and overturn those that are not. Ideally, the SCOTUS would overturn any law impinging "net neutrality".

Unfortunately, the Busheviks now seem to think they can determine the Constitutionality of laws all by themselves. Read Charlie Savage's Pulitzer Prize winning article, or his new book (preferably both).

[GeoNorth]

Haven't you noticed? Verizon will do anything that they are told by this administration to do. So much for free speech.

Here in VT, there is a lawyer doing Pro Bono work in Gitmo. His Verizon service has been exhibiting some very strange behavior. When he complained, Verizon said they checked and that somebody had crossed some wires and it was fixed. Verizon credited his bill four dollars and change. They didn't say why the wires were crossed.

The Bush administration has been privatizing the government since their beginning. Verizon and other phone companies have been spying for the government. Like Blackwater doing military work without accountability, Verizon is now in the spy business without accountability.

[Budh]

What happened to the break up of AT&T into BabyBells some years back. Under this administration Ma Bell is scooping up and swallowing all the BabyBells to form a monopoly again. Will the congress ever bother to question it.

[ErnestineBass]

To hell with cell phones companies and their damned rip off contracts.
Trac Phones are the best cellular deal going.

[Celldumceen]

I am amazed that people like LeftRight can't tell the difference between a mega corporation that provides a vital service and an individual person. What the average worker does at their desk does not affect anyone else except perhaps their employee but what a company like Verizo does affects millions. If Verizon blocks the communications of certain people or orginizations at behest of the government well then that clearly is censorship.

[nancytheragingliberal]

This is frightening. Who would think that this kind of squashing of freedom of speech is contained in the phone contract. This needs to be eliminated NOW.

[Chris]

Nancy which laws is verizon violating to "squash your freedom of speech"

[LeftRight]

While I don't like it, and I think that they shouldn't censor anything, there is one very important point.

This is not a First Amendment right. The First Amendment only applies to the government. ANy government in the US. It does not apply to private companies. That is why your employer does not have to let you look at objectionable material on the internet at work.

[fpie]

The issue is about discrimination against political speech. If someone wants to stop dirty talk in spam form that's a different battle but this is an interferance with the democratic process.

[Chris]

Again your argument is false sicne there are no laws agaisnt not allowing political speech on a network owned by a prviate enterprise.

[wiseferret]

There's a world of difference between getting paid to do a job in an expected manner and paying for a service you expect to preform to certain standards. When I pay for a service, I expect my First Ammendments rights to be in force.
When I work, I understand I am required to behave in a certain acceptable manner & I agreed to that so I will be paid.

[Chris]

Wiseferret please ltell me how Verizon is infringing on your right to free speech as defined in the the US Constitution?

[peaceandfreedom]

The airwaves, in all forms, radio, tv, internet, telephones in all permutations, belong to the AMERICAN PEOPLE! They are rented to companies like ATT, Verizon, all broadcasters, by the Feds in our name.

So, yeah, I think free speech applies to them all.

[Transcendentobserver]

True, 1st Amendment (or any of the Bill of Rights for that matter) does not grant an individual a single right. They are restrictions on governmental action only and, until the 14th Amendment, only applied to the Federal Government. The point you miss, however, is that use of the air space and cyberspace are privileges granted to the entitities who make use of them. As such the use of the franchise is subject to the governmental limitations--territorial if problematic so far as states are concerned, but subject to constitutional restrictions so far as the Feds are concerned.

[twofish]

That's one reason this privatization racket sucks. The government isn't allowed to do this or that, so privatize the function, and the corporations can do what they damn well please.

Want to teach religious nonsense as science, right-wing talking points as history? Private "charter" schools. Want to discriminate against gays or women, block information on birth control or abortion? Let a church run the operation; you can't expect them to go against their core beliefs, can you?

The problem is when the corporations impinge on the public space. It's one thing for your employer to say you can't use the company computer and network to look at porn; it's quite something else for a cell phone company to censor attempts at political organizing. If the law sees both these cases as the same ("private property"), there's something seriously wrong with the law. We may ultimately have to dig all the way down to the constitution to fix it.