The Power Of Many

Verizon made a little test of how life would be without net neutrality, and they were smacked down immediately.

Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless last week rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program.

But the company reversed course this morning, saying it had made a mistake.

“The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect, and we have fixed the process that led to this isolated incident,” Jeffrey Nelson, a company spokesman, said in a statement.

“It was an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy,” Mr. Nelson said. “That policy, developed before text messaging protections such as spam filters adequately protected customers from unwanted messages, was designed to ward against communications such as anonymous hate messaging and adult materials sent to children.”

Make no mistake; Verizon really wanted to do this. But the outcry was widespread and genuine. And more than controlling content, Verizon wants to have a viable business.

I'm more confident than ever that net neutrality, whether codified into law or not, will be the guiding principle of telecommunications in the 21st century. The public won't stand for anything else. The only possible pitfall is if they aren't mobilized to action. So we must continue fighting to Save The Internet.