RSSVerizon exec: No 'policing the Internet' for us
By Ed Oswald | Published January 31, 2008, 11:45 AM
The telecommunications company said it had no interest in looking into how its customers use its broadband services in an attempt to filter pirated content.
Public affairs chief Tom Tauke made the comments at the Congressional Internet Caucus' State of the Net conference, being held in Washington, DC. The stance of Verizon seems to differ from that of other operators, who are actively throttling downloads.
It seems, however, to have become common practice to talk out both sides of the mouth, so to speak. While publicly ISPs such as Comcast have denied that they throttle connections, investigations later have uncovered that it indeed does treat certain kinds of Internet traffic differently.
Verizon may also be employing a hands-off approach in order to avoid any potential public backlash and possible legal ramifications. Tauke said deploying filters such as AT&T seems apt to implement could open up "a can of worms."
Even with the company's public stance on Internet filtering, the company has not always been so lassiez-faire. Last year it refused to send SMS text messages from the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), although it quickly removed the block.
An internal review of company procedures following that incident is almost complete, and Tauke said it was changing how the company dealt with such issues. However, at the same time he said that the company would continue to act in the best interest of its customers when companies request to send bulk messages through the carrier.
Tauke cited a recent request by a company which solicited recipients to call a number which would have cost $29 per call. ""We have to exercise some judgment in terms of the kinds of entities that want to use the service," he was quoted by IP Democracy as saying.
Only thing about verizon is they are pretty much a spammer haven. Next to asia, verizon is the biggest sender of spam to the networks I watch. This is echoed by most on the SPAM-L list. The verizon abuse desk is a black hole.
Score: 0
|Now that's how you market your ISP ;)
Score: 0
|I got FiOS 15Mbps per second in May 2005, and since they they have upped the speed to 20Mbps and the price has not gone up. Coupled with this news, I'll be happy to keep them as my ISP for as long as I can. My experience with Comcast was lousy, and I don't need a company to tell me how to use bandwith that I am paying for.
Score: 0
|Interesting
http://www.spymac.com/details/?2336507
Score: 0
|@Morena
http://www.spymac.com/details/?2336507
Not interesting - Spam. Garbage wesbsite
Score: 0
|It's encouraging, but I will not jump ship. The fastest speed offer by Verizon is still 3mpbs DSL for 29.99/month + fee with 1 year contract. I think Verizon is the only ISP require a contract for internet services.
Score: 0
|They don't require a contract for service; they only require the contract if you want to get the promotional pricing. If you are willing to pay the full installation cost (normally waived or reduced), the list price of the DSL modem (if you don't already have a compatible model), and their non-discounted monthly charge (actually 2 months on your initial bill for the current month plus the next month in advance), they will gladly set you up without a contract. You would probably be the first customer to ever go for such a deal, so naturally you would need to call and speak to a human salesperson; you won't be able to sign up online because their site assumes that anyone in their right mind would want the promo pricing.
Score: 0
|Earthlink still has the option of getting a contract if you want promotional pricing.
Score: 0
|This is the FIRST encouraging thing I've seen from Verizon.
Score: 0
|Yeah, this just made me consider Verizon as an ISP. Nice to see that they are not interested in being part of the "big-brother" spying which Comcast is apart of.
Score: 0
|Verizon on the side of good, for once. Maybe there's hope for them yet.
Score: 0
|