Why has Verizon shot itself in the foot and given the pro-net neutrality forces an early Christmas gift?
I’m a big fan of FIOS, and have been a customer for over 3 years. But at some point recently, Verizon changed the terms of the FIOS Acceptable Use Policy so it is now an AUP violation for me to “post off-topic information on message boards, chat rooms or social networking sites.” And Verizon can suspend or terminate my internet access for an AUP violation.
The net neutrality debate is heating up, maybe reaching a boiling point. There are only a few weeks before the first comments are due in the FCC’s proceeding to decide whether net neutrality rules should be instituted for broadband platforms. AT&T and other NN opponents have been repeating the mantra that the new rules are a solution in search of a non-existent problem. Not so much anymore, thanks to Verizon. There’s no doubt that the new AUP would violate the FCC’s proposed 47 C.F.R § 8.5, which provides that “[s]ubject to reasonable network management, a provider of broadband Internet access service may not prevent any of its users from sending or receiving the lawful content of the user’s choice over the Internet.”
It’s going to be a lot harder to make that “just trust us” argument now. You have to wonder what Verizon was thinking. Of course, this is D.C., so maybe there’s a more nefarious explanation than mere stupidity . . . .
