Verizon: The Anti-Woman Telecom

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Text messaging is a growing political tool in the United States and a dominant one abroad, and such sign-up programs are used by many political candidates and advocacy groups to send updates to supporters.

But legal experts said private companies like Verizon probably have the legal right to decide which messages to carry. The laws that forbid common carriers from interfering with voice transmissions on ordinary phone lines do not apply to text messages.

The dispute over the Naral messages is a skirmish in the larger battle over the question of “net neutrality” — whether carriers or Internet service providers should have a voice in the content they provide to customers.

“This is right at the heart of the problem,” said Susan Crawford, a visiting professor at the University of Michigan law school, referring to the treatment of text messages. “The fact that wireless companies can choose to discriminate is very troubling.”

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Verizon: A socially toxic and irresponsible, Outsourcing telecom Conglomerate wrapped in James Earl Jones Voice

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Shubert's lawyer, Ivann Mazell, made an impassioned argument that the government was trying to overuse the state secrets privilege, which Mazell said must be balanced against Americans' constitutional rights.

"According to the government's arguments, there is nothing to stop the exec from putting a bug in every bedroom," Mazell said. "They believe there is a national security exemption to Fourth amendment. The court is here to set a limit on unchecked executive power."

Verizon lawyer Henry Weissmann argued that the privacy rules that largely bar phone companies from turning over records to the government were unconstitutional.

"Communicating information to the government would be speech. Providing information to law enforcement would be petitioning," Weissmann said. "The plaintiff say there was too much speech, that too many records were provided."

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The majority of the more than 50 anti-spying suits consolidated in Walker's courtroom are now on hold until the appeals court rules, but Verizon and the government moved to dismiss their case on the grounds that the earlier ruling did not apply to their case.

Judge Walker closed the two-and-a-half hour hearing without ruling, saying only to the lawyers that "I probably won’t see you all until we get some guidance from the Ninth Circuit."

Like other right wing scum their argument amounts to an unfounded claim that they are exempt from laws.

Verizon: A socially toxic and irresponsible, Outsourcing telecom Conglomerate wrapped in James Earl Jones Voice