Free Press Calls for Investigation of Verizon Clamp Down on Tethering App
Free Press asked the FCC to investigate whether Verizon Wireless asked Google to block tethering apps in the Android Market. Free Press targeted Verizon since part of the spectrum it bought in the 700 MHz auction, the C-block, carries a requirement that the licensee not “deny, limit, or restrict” the ability of customers to use apps or devices of their own choosing. Free Press said AT&T and T-Mobile have also sought to block tethering unless a subscriber pays extra.
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"We feel like it’s an ongoing problem,” said Matt Wood, Free Press policy director, in an interview. “We've been investigating this since … last month and didn’t want to wait before calling the commission’s attention to it a little more formally.” Wood said when the FCC approved rules for the C-block under former Chairman Kevin Martin it took the net neutrality requirement seriously. “We hope the current commission will have the same view,” he said. Free Press has some concerns that if the FCC doesn’t act, carriers could start blocking other applications as well, he said: “We're afraid of a future where carriers have carte blanch to block all kinds of applications."
"Verizon Wireless doesn’t block applications in the Android Market; Google manages its market,” a Verizon Wireless spokesman said in response Tuesday. “Free Press filed this complaint with the FCC without contacting us to discuss the facts about the issue, as the FCC rules for formal complaints require. Free Press appears to be more interested garnering attention than finding out the facts."
Tethering is “consumer-friendly,” boosts productivity and “encourages innovation in the market for wireless devices by providing users with a low-cost, easy way to try new products and maximize use of their existing devices,” Free Press said in a filing at the commission. “Efforts to disable smartphone features and create barriers to this useful, productive, proinnovation activity should cause concern no matter who initiates them; but when Verizon Wireless interferes with the use of third-party tethering applications, that conduct also violates the rules governing its LTE network.”
Taking apps out of the Android Market “severely restricts” their use, Free Press said. “If an application is included in the Android Market, a consumer with an Android phone clicks one button on his phone to open the Market, searches for the desired application, selects it, and then clicks one more button to either buy the application or install it free-of-charge. By contrast, most consumers face multiple challenges in finding and installing mobile applications outside of the Android Market."
How the FCC handles the complaint will be an early test “of whether the FCC is going to be serious about enforcing its net neutrality rules,” said Media Access Project Senior Vice President Andrew Schwartzman.