If you enjoy the wide "coverage" offered by the largest wireless service provider, you might be surprised that the company that connecting you with your friends and family is also one of the largest providers of pornography.
Wait, it gets worse.
Now, the broadband and telecommunications giant is taking criticism for defending its decision to provide hard-core porn titles with child and incest themes. Titles like “I Banged My Stepdad,” “Mom, Daughter and Me,” and “Pigtail Teens Pounded” are just some of the many offerings featured on Verizon’s FIOS video on-demand service.
Verizon’s response? Associate Director for Advertising and Content Standards John P. Artney defended the company’s choice to provide the content, noting that “consumers today have extraordinary choice in and control over the content available to them across these networks.”
“The explosion in choice is a tremendous benefit to consumers, but not all consumers want to have access to all content for themselves and their families all of the time,” states Artney. “Not all content is desirable to or appropriate for all consumers, however, and Verizon is proud to provide our customers with myriad tools to control the types of content that they and their families have access to through our service.”
Does Verizon have any sense of corporate responsibility? Or are they choosing to ignore a pandemic of harm from pornography falling particularly hard on children.
Ari Zoldan, CEO of Verizon competitor Quantum Networks, says that “as Americans we believe in freedom of speech, but we also believe in protection of our children’s welfare and well-being first and foremost.”
Coming to Verizon's defense, Leo Terrell, of CleartheCourt.com, says Verizon is simply acting like a business. “Verizon is handling this matter appropriately for its shareholders because it is making them a lot of money,” Terrell said.
L.A-based pop culture expert Jenn Hoffman is also in Verizon’s corner. “Shouldn't complaints be directed towards the millions of people paying for and enjoying this type of porn rather than a neutral party such as an internet provider?” she said. “It would be pretty impossible for Verizon to satisfy every different view of morality while actually serving consumer needs.”
