VW’s censorship of NARAL played into the hands of consumer and First Amendment advocates who believe telecoms and Internet service providers should not serve as information gatekeepers. They rightly fear shades of “1984” censorship. VW provided them with plenty of ammunition. The $38B wireless outfit initially told NARAL that its text was refused based on a policy of turning down programs with an agenda or information that may be considered unsavory to users.
Susan Crawford, visiting professor at the University of Michigan law school, told the NYT:
“The fact that wireless companies can choose to discriminate is very troubling.”VW deserves credit for quickly putting an end to its mini-PR crisis. It now says the decision to reject NARAL’s messages was based on an “incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy.” The problem has been fixed.
VW CEO Lowell McAdam probably took some offense to the Times piece, which compared his company’s information control policy to that of China.
Columbia University professor Timothy Wu told the Times it is possible to find an analogy to Verizon’s decision abroad.
“Another entity that controls mass test messages is the Chinese Government.”Ouch.