Posts from August 2010

Is the FCC Reading from the MMS Playbook?
Jenn Ettinger
August 25, 2010

If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to read this piece that ran today in the Washington Post. Really, do it. I’ll wait. This is me waiting.

“How the Minerals Management Service’s partnership with industry led to failure” is a play-by-play of how lax government regulation and industry-written rules led to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and brought a U.S. government agency to its knees. It eerily foreshadows where the Federal Communications Commission could be headed if Chairman Julius Genachowski doesn’t stand up to the industry he is in charge of overseeing.

In Minnesota, Hundreds Urge FCC to Protect Net Neutrality
Jenn Ettinger
August 20, 2010

It was standing room only at South High in Minneapolis on Thursday night as more than 750 people turned out to show their support for Net Neutrality and free speech online. FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn listened to hours of impassioned public testimony about the future of the Internet.

Sen. Al Franken: We Have a Free Speech Problem
Tim Karr
August 20, 2010

Sen. Al Franken (D.-Minn.) warned a packed house Thursday night in Minneapolis that the corporate takeover of our media, and the government's failure to stop it, is one of the most important issues of our time.

Franken said our media system is at risk everywhere we turn -- from our free speech online to the growing power of companies who own a massive number of media outlets.

The Internet Must Remain in the Hands of the People
Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva
August 19, 2010

The recent announcement that Google and Verizon believe Internet and wireless providers should decide what kinds of online content they allow customers to access should spur the FCC to immediate action. As it stands, Internet and phone service providers cannot and must not discriminate between different kinds of online content and applications.

Chairman Genachowski. Can You Hear Us Now?
Tim Karr
August 19, 2010

News last week that Google and Verizon had reached consensus on a "legislative framework" for Net Neutrality was met with near universal disdain.

Wireless Networks are Different Because Special Interest Lobbyists Say So
Chris Riley
August 18, 2010

The fight for Net Neutrality has turned into a lesson in Washington, D.C. sausage making. In the latest round, the usual special interest groups – led by lobbyists from AT&T, Verizon and their pet trade association CTIA – are pouring all their energy into arguments that wireless networks cannot be subject to Net Neutrality rules because of purported technical obstacles.

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