Verizon: It’s OUR Network

Mark is totally outperforming me on this blog for many reasons, but my newest excuse is that I went to Austin for the weekend to see the Austin City Limits Festival. W00t!!1!

So, I’m going to be covering some divine articles that appeared over the weekend. First up: Verizon, it’s OUR network, baby! The Journal reports:

Verizon Wireless appealed the Federal Communications Commission’s rules for a coming radio spectrum auction, charging the agency with exceeding its authority in requiring carriers to open their networks to any devices and cellphone applications.

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Yes, you read that right: Verizon wants to change the rules so that they control what devices and programs you can use when using wireless. What ever happened to consumer freedom? Oh, maybe it’s that consumers want control! i-9d936ebcbb671ac98c18d0fb1b4e58c6-4s.jpeg

The good news is that the decision of the FCC, yes, a federal government agency, to give you more choice and freedom, is reviewed on an “arbitrary and capricious” standard. This means that Verizon carries the burden to show that the agency acted irrationally in requiring the spectrum to be free from such carrier restrictions.