14 DAY TRIAL // Verizon denies that its new media endeavor, a tech site, is banned from writing about surveillance in the United States and net neutrality, two topics where Verizon is involved up to its neck.
“SugarString is a pilot project from Verizon Wireless’ marketing group, designed to address tech trends, especially those of interest to our customers. Unlike the characterization by its new editor, SugarString is open to all topics that fit its mission and elevate the conversation around technology,” Verizon told Ars Technica on the topic.
The reaction comes after Daily Dot published an article in which it revealed to have had a conversation via email with the new editor in chief at SugarString in which he was being offered a job. The demands that come with the job were listed in the emails and it was soon clear that the editors weren’t allowed to touch several topics.
No NSA surveillance, no net neutrality
For instance, they aren’t allowed to write about the NSA’s mass surveillance practices as long as they’re directly connected to the United States. If you remember, the reason why Edward Snowden risked his life to share the NSA documents with the media was so that American citizens, who should be protected by the Constitution, can find out that their government doesn’t really care about their fourth amendment.
It’s also extremely important to point out that Verizon’s name was dragged through the dirt along with the very first reports on the NSA files as it was revealed that the telco shares people’s information with the intelligence agency, much like any other similar company, as it was later unveiled.
Reporters with SugarString are also supposedly banned from writing about net neutrality, something that Verizon has been fighting strongly against. It is Verizon’s lawsuit that has led to the FCC being unable to enforce net neutrality rules on Internet Service Providers.
The statement released by Verizon holds some interesting words, including the notion that the site is “open to all topics that fit its mission.” What exactly is this mission? Just because a publication is open to all topics, it doesn’t mean that it won’t avoid those that don’t fit its “mission.”
Verizon is practically throwing its own editors under the bus here, even though it seems like it’s a pretty clear situation. It should be interesting to see screen grabs of these emails for more proof, although there’s little doubt that the claims made The Daily Dot are anything but true, especially since it seems like there were plenty of editors to get the same emails.