Posts tagged Verizon

Verizon's Deal with Big Cable Spells the Demise of the Telecom Act
Joel Kelsey
January 5, 2012

We all remember the 1980's and its awesome fashion and music. While some may want to revisit those aspects of the past, I don't think anyone wants to return to the era of the cable and Ma Bell monopolies.

Opening up communications markets was the purpose of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The Act was designed to help phone companies get into the pay-TV business, and cable companies get into the phone business. Yet after a series of regulatory blunders, this promise of increased competition and lower prices has become a distant memory, like 7-Up Gold. And the situation is only getting worse.

Stanford Law Prof Condemns Verizon App Blocking
Anonymous
December 19, 2011

Earlier this month, when Verizon announced it was restricting Google Wallet from being used on the new Galaxy Nexus phone, Free Press cried foul and urged the FCC to investigate. Since Verizon has signed on to conditions that require it to keep part of its wireless network open to competitors’ applications and devices, it may be breaking the law by blocking access to applications on its phones.

Stanford Law School Professor Barbara van Schewick, author of Internet Architecture and Innovation, has also written a letter to the FCC. Below is her blog post on the issue, which she gave us permission to re-post.

The Top 10 Ways the Carriers Tried to Screw Us in 2011
Josh Levy
December 15, 2011

Another year, another 12 months in which the mobile carriers did their best to screw us.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon do so many bad, annoying and anti-consumer things that it’s almost impossible to document it all. So below is a catalog of simply the most egregious acts the carriers perpetrated this year.

Verizon Blocks Again
Josh Levy
December 13, 2011

Last week Verizon announced it was blocking Google’s new Galaxy Nexus phone from using Google Wallet, the mobile payment app.

Verizon's Broadband Bunk
Tim Karr
December 8, 2011

A letter to the editor of the New York Times from Verizon Chairman Ivan Seidenberg had us scratching our heads at Free Press today.

Seidenberg wrote to rebut an Op-Ed written by former White House technology adviser Susan Crawford, in which she states that the United States high-speed Internet marketplace suffers from a lack of competition, a problem that drives up broadband prices for American Internet users.

AT&T, Verizon and Other Telecom Tax Dodgers
Josh Levy
November 18, 2011

Big corporations have become a focal point for the nation’s anger and mistrust (see: Occupy Wall Street). It’s no wonder. As millions of Americans struggle to keep their homes and their jobs, big companies are continuing to post — and trumpet — record profits. That fact alone has many of us outraged.

A new report, “Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers,” is sure to outrage us even more. Produced by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the study examines the income taxes paid (or not paid) by 280 companies in the Fortune 500.

SaveTheInternet.com SaveTheNews.org
close [x]

Free Press is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, quality journalism, and universal access to communications.

Learn More »

close [x]

The Free Press Action Fund is member-supported. We don't take money from government, political parties or businesses. Member contributions fuel our work lobbying Congress and the FCC, filing lawsuits and legal complaints, and aggressively advocating for real changes in media policymaking that benefit the public.

Donate To the Free Press Action Fund »

close [x]