Verizon Begins Scanning and Censoring Customer Emails
In October Matt Drudge told the Alex Jones Show the very foundation of the free internet is under severe threat from copyright laws that could ban independent media outlets. Drudge said he was told directly by a Supreme Court Justice, “It’s over for me.”
The move by Verizon follows a previous effort by the broadband giant to dictate news on the internet.
In a 2012 legal brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Verizon argued [huffington post article] the Constitution gives the phone company the right to control everyone’s online information.
“Just as a newspaper is entitled to decide which content to publish and where, broadband providers may feature some content over others.”
In other words, Verizon believes it has “editorial discretion” over what news and information its customers may access.
The following year the company went before the appeals court and said it has the right to block content that cannot or will not pay a toll.
In 2007 Verizon Wireless blocked text messages it deemed “controversial or unsavory.”
“This is right at the heart of the problem,” said Susan Crawford, a visiting professor at theUniversity of Michigan law school, told The New York Times. “The fact that wireless companies can choose to discriminate is very troubling.”
In October Matt Drudge told the Alex Jones Show the very foundation of the free internet is under severe threat from copyright laws that could ban independent media outlets. Drudge said he was told directly by a Supreme Court Justice, “It’s over for me.”
The move by Verizon follows a previous effort by the broadband giant to dictate news on the internet.
In a 2012 legal brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Verizon argued [huffington post article] the Constitution gives the phone company the right to control everyone’s online information.
“Just as a newspaper is entitled to decide which content to publish and where, broadband providers may feature some content over others.”
In other words, Verizon believes it has “editorial discretion” over what news and information its customers may access.
The following year the company went before the appeals court and said it has the right to block content that cannot or will not pay a toll.
In 2007 Verizon Wireless blocked text messages it deemed “controversial or unsavory.”
“This is right at the heart of the problem,” said Susan Crawford, a visiting professor at theUniversity of Michigan law school, told The New York Times. “The fact that wireless companies can choose to discriminate is very troubling.”
