Cingular Wireless, America’s largest carrier, has just announced that they too will stop offering customers the option of downloading racy images, videos, and violent games despite the profits foreshadowed by European and Asian wireless providers. “We’re not going to offer adult content; we’re not going to offer ultraviolent games,” said Mark Siegel, a spokesman for Cingular. “That is not compatible with the Cingular brand.”
Now you might think that it’s Cingular’s perogative on what content they choose to offer to their customers, but they are walking a fine legal line.
According to the Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.), telephone carriers are not allowed to censor what people say over the telephone, what phone numbers they call, and what sites consumers visit on the Internet. However, the F.C.C has said that no rule governed what content the carriers could sponsor and sell themselves. The result is that providers can create multi-tiered Internet plans then decide how much access each tier has to the Internet.
This soft censoring trend has also been seen at Sprint, Verison, and AT&T Wireless(owned by Cingular).
[Cue the comedic drumroll and cymbal crash] Sounds like some people will be getting the shaft.
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