public utilities and twitter

Some have been referring to Twitter as a "public utility."  That isn't correct - this is from lawyer friend Barbara who is an expert on the subject.

There are numerous legal principles that evolved under the English common law and later U.S. law to address various forms of access problems to some essential service or facility. 

However, I have come to find that the term “public utility” has become a meme in more general discourse — that mischaracterizes its legal meaning, and conflates it with some of the other legal principles (such as common carriage). A public utility (under the common law and later under statutes) requires grant of a franchise from government to the utility, delegating some governmental power (e.g. use of rights-of-way) in exchange for which some regulation can be imposed. This is different from common carriage, which is a legal status (under the common law and later under statutes) that arises from the functionality of the service itself (briefly, holding out to serve the public; providing a conduit function), by virtue of which certain obligations/duties are imposed (to serve upon reasonable request, without unreasonable discrimination, at just and reasonable rates, and with adequate care).