Textbook example

It’s possible Verizon Wireless has done as much for the open access/net neutrality campaign as the liberal MoveOn.org Petraeus ad did for struggling Republicans.
Verizon Wireless’ decision first to block text messages from pro-abortion group NARAL and then to promptly reverse itself after the incident drew national attention-and is apt to become Exhibit A in the push by Google Inc., public-interest groups, consumer advocates and others for open access in the wireless space. The timing of Verizon Wireless’ run-in with NARAL Pro-Choice America couldn’t have been worse for the No. 2 mobile-phone carrier, or better for the open-access army in the nation’s capital and its many followers outside the Beltway.
The very public spat between Verizon Wireless and NARAL occurred at the same time details began to surface about the wireless carrier’s latest complaints about 700 MHz open-access rules at a high-level, Sept. 17 meeting with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, and Martin’s subsequent effort to issue a revised ruling on those guidelines on the same day 700 MHz petitions for reconsideration were due. Martin failed in his first try to tinker with 700 MHz open access after meeting resistance from the two Democrats on the FCC.
The mobile-phone industry has been fighting with mixed success to fend off loud, persistent calls for open access, handset unlocking, wholesale and more in the wireless market. Now, with texting quickly becoming a mainstream medium for political outreach and advocacy, free speech joins the growing list of public-policy issues for a wireless industry increasingly taking on attributes of the video, music and Internet sectors. It’s bad when a national wireless carrier’s texting policy is compared with censorship in communist China.
Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said Verizon Wireless’ initial decision to obstruct text messages from NARAL “shows the need for legislation to make certain that telephone and cable companies cannot impose their will over the Internet or any other telecommunications medium. . You cannot have unfettered communications by having the telephone company review each decision whenever a controversial issue is raised. A text message like this one alerting NARAL supporters to act quickly on a pending political issue is useless after hours of delay by the telephone company referees.”
Don’t be surprised to see Exhibit A pop up again and again at the FCC, on Capitol Hill and in the courts as the open-access debate plays out over the remainder of this year and likely for a long time to come.