The Supreme Irony of Life...: Verizon Censorship

(Update below)

Verizon Wireless apparently has decided that NARAL is offensive:

Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program.

Let's be honest here, even if just for a moment. This is censorship, plain and simple.

I am a Verizon Wireless customer. Unless my they change their mind on this, I am going to be changing providers when my contract comes due, very soon.

Update: It appears that Verizon reversed its decision on NARAL:

“The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect, and we have fixed the process that led to this isolated incident,” Jeffrey Nelson, a company spokesman, said in a statement.

“It was an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy,” Mr. Nelson said. “That policy, developed before text messaging protections such as spam filters adequately protected customers from unwanted messages, was designed to ward against communications such as anonymous hate messaging and adult materials sent to children.”

I would have like to have been a fly on the wall, when the discussions went down over this. It would be interesting to know if Verizon's reversal was due to the reason given, or the swift negative reaction in blogs, and news sites.