So, basically, Verizon is saying that it can pick and choose which Web sites Verizon broadband customers can access and which it can’t, just like a newspaper picks and chooses which articles, or letters to the editor, it publishes.

Which is an interesting argument since, as Jeff Jarvis notes, that means Verizon is saying that it owns the content of every Web site a Verizon customer accesses just as a newspaper owns the copyright on everything it publishes in the paper.

Huh?

What’s next? Does Verizon Wireless have the right to edit my phone conversations in the same way a newspaper edits itself? Or does that only apply to VOIP phone calls done over a Verizon Internet connection? And does Verizon own the content of my phone calls?

Americans pay an oscene price for their broadband connections as compared to Europe. As Chris has noted before, in France you can get a much faster connection than we have here in the US, and get cable TV and phone service (with free calls at home and to dozens of countries), for about 30 euros a month (or $36). And on top of it, we have to deal with telecom companies that think they own us.

It is interesting that Verizon is so interested in controlling my Internet access when it can’t even control my cell phone. Verizon says it has no way to block the telemarketer who calls my iPhone several times a day from an unknown number and then hangs up as soon as I answer. Interesting that there’s “no way” to block the person, but I can simply jailbreak my phone and then get an app that can – what? – block “unknown” callers.