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Verizon's tech news site won't cover anything that makes it look bad

It's a great time for technology journalism, with hundreds of sites all working very hard to bring you exhaustive coverage of their specialist field. Verizon, however, clearly doesn't feel that it's getting enough attention, which is why it's launched SugarString, a tech news site that covers "humanity's climb towards the new next." There is, unfortunately, a catch, which is that Big Red hasn't been able to stop itself from ensuring that some pretty big technology topics are strictly off-limits. The Daily Dot received an email, purportedly from new editor Cole Stryker, that claims that two subjects can't be discussed on the site: spying and net neutrality. "Wait," you ask us, "aren't they the two areas where Verizon's got plenty of dirty laundry?" to which we simply nod.

For instance, SugarString isn't likely to cover the news that Verizon has been found to insert tracking profiles on devices where users have selected Do Not Track. Or that the company had to pay a $7.4 million fine to the FCC after failing to tell landline customers how to avoid sharing their personal data. Then there's the fact that Verizon was handing bulk call logs to the NSA, even when it said it wasn't, to the point where the company can't do business with Germany's government anymore. SugarString also probably won't talk about the fact that Verizon led the charge to bludgeon net neutrality to death, presumably so it could uphold the principles of an open internet by sabotaging Netflix until the service paid for access.