Should companies protect consumers from themselves? That’s the question raised in the recent case of the teenager in California who, once added to his Dad’s Verizon Wireless account, ran up a bill of $22,000 by downloading over 1.4 gigabytes of data on his cell phone. Dad did not have a data plan, so…. as the meter ran (and ran and ran) Verizon was charging Dad by the byte.

In this particular case, Verizon agreed to waive the fee after the story got a ton of press. But typically, on an “oops I made a mistake” case like this, Verizon will split the charge with the customer. (So, Dad would still be on the hook for $11,000!)

The website The Consumerist raises the question: why not create a fail-safe system that would alert a customer if there was an unusual spike in their usage? Credit card companies have done this for years, mostly related to preventing fraud. But is it the job of a corporation to prevent customers from spending too much money on their goods or services? How about sellers of luxury goods or automobiles or casinos? Should companies become their “brother’s keeper?”

Actually, we would suggest a middle ground. When signing up new customers, Verizon should provide the account owner with the option of being notified in case of a spike in usage or fees. They could even offer levels of 100, 200 or 500 percent over normal. These are (or should be) simple variables that can be plugged into their management systems that in turn, would add a great deal of value to customers, if they chose to participate.

(And no, Verizon - you shouldn’t charge for the alert service. Use it as a point of differentiation!)

• H-P’s saw a 48% jump in operating profit to $1.4 billion for its services businesses after buying EDS last year…

The Wall Street Journal pointed out an interesting trend this week, in which many of the best known names in corporate America are reversing a long-standing trend and now going vertical with their business models. Using the recent acquisition of Sun Computers by Oracle Software, CEO Larry Ellison plans to transform Oracle into a maker of software, computers, and computer components, and a services arm which will look more like the large computer conglomerates of the 1960s.

According to the Journal, vertical integration is “a 100-year-old strategy in which a company controls materials, manufacturing and distribution. Others moving recently in this direction include ArcelorMittal, PepsiCo Inc., General Motors Co. and Boeing Co.”

What’s causing this trend? Volatile commodity prices, financial pressures at suppliers and quests for new revenue, all of which have become more acute due to the recession. Ultimately, these companies want more control over their destinys and their customers. From our vantage point in the area of service design, one point not mentioned in the article was the role of the Internet on these changes. Since the Internet has made almost everything much more transparent and immediate, large companies can better control the vertical “stack.”

But in the end, time will tell if this trend stays or goes. As Mr. Ellison summed up: “We’re really brilliant, or we’re idiots.”

But then again, Ellison didn’t get to be one of the most successful CEOs (and the 4th wealthiest man in the world after Gates, Buffet and Helu) by being an idiot. Watch this trend.