Since the underlying issue has, as I recall anyway, to do with Verizon's contractual obligations to its customers (its privacy statement), their claim here would seem to be that the First Amendment trumps any contravening clause in any private contract. Hence, if their argument is sustained, all non-disclosure agreements -- past, present and future -- will be voided.
Whee! All former Microsoft coders are free to publish the innards of Windows!
I totally agree. The fact that anyone would even label a state-sponsored enterprise as "private" speaks volumes about the extent to which the public consciousness about the difference between private and public has been corrupted. We now think nothing of politicians spending taxpayers' money to prop up their pet projects (and of course line their pockets). It's become so common we now blur the distinction and call it "private" just because it emulates in some way what private money does properly.
What's tragic is that every now and then one of these other-peoples'-money ventures actually succeeds -- as would be expected just by the luck of the draw -- and then it becomes a model for future politicians to dig even deeper into taxpayers' pockets to fund the next 100 failures (while skimming plenty into their own pockets).
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Since the underlying issue has, as I recall anyway, to do with Verizon's contractual obligations to its customers (its privacy statement), their claim here would seem to be that the First Amendment trumps any contravening clause in any private contract. Hence, if their argument is sustained, all non-disclosure agreements -- past, present and future -- will be voided. Whee! All former Microsoft coders are free to publish the innards of Windows!
What's tragic is that every now and then one of these other-peoples'-money ventures actually succeeds -- as would be expected just by the luck of the draw -- and then it becomes a model for future politicians to dig even deeper into taxpayers' pockets to fund the next 100 failures (while skimming plenty into their own pockets).