• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, July 7, 2011

When Verizon acquired the spectrum that it now uses for 4G wireless phones, the company agreed that it would follow a host of neutrality conditions. Among others, Verizon said it wouldn't restrict people's ability to use devices and applications of their choice.

Now, advocacy group Free Press says that Verizon has violated that condition by asking Google to limit people's ability to acquire tethering apps -- which allow people to use their smart phones to connect tablets or other devices to the Web.

Verizon instead wants to charge subscribers for the ability to use their smart phones as modems.

While Google hasn't actually removed the apps from the Android store, the company makes apps unavailable to people when their carriers say the apps violate their terms of service. (Those people can still download the apps from other online sites, but doing so might void the Android warranty.)

Free Press has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking that it investigate. Stanford Law professor Barbara van Schewick recently wrote to the FCC to ask it to open its proceedings for public comment. "Verizon Wireless's practice and Free Press's complaint raise fundamental issues of Internet openness policy," she said. "While only two parties are named in the complaint proceeding, the outcome of the proceeding will have a far-reaching impact on many businesses, innovators, and users in the Internet ecosystem."

She adds: "Allowing network providers to pick winners and losers online -- whether by actively blocking particular applications or simply by making them more difficult to use -- harms application-level innovation."

In some ways, the dispute appears reminiscent of the uproar that broke out when Apple banned the Skype app that ran on the 3G network from the iTunes store. Apple and AT&T eventually reversed course, but only after the FCC investigated.