by David Rosen
“Broadband Internet is the new electricity,” proclaimed president Joe Biden when he introduced the American Jobs Plan, a $2 trillion infrastructure plan that includes broadband upgrades. The White House statement noted: Continue reading
26 April 2019 — Local Futures
In recent months there’s been a lot of talk about 5G – the next generation of wireless technology. 5G is being touted as a necessary step to the ‘internet of things’ – a world in which our refrigerators alert us when we’re low on milk, our baby’s diapers tell us when they need to be changed, and Netflix is available everywhere, all the time. But what we’re not hearing is that evidence-based studies worldwide have clearly established the harmful effects of human exposure to pulsed radiofrequency radiation from cell towers, cell phones and other devices – and that 5G will make the problem exponentially worse.
5 September 2018 — FAIR
Janine Jackson interviewed Evan Greer about the FCC’s net neutrality cyber fraud for the August 24, 2018, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
17 May 2018 — FAIR
Janine Jackson interviewed Tim Karr about the fight for net neutrality for the May 11, 2018, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Continue reading
15 December 2017 — Global Research
By Julia Conley, December 15, 2017
The nonpartisan First Amendment advocacy group Free Press vowed to take the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to court Thursday after the Republican-controlled panel moved to gut net neutrality protections that prohibit internet service providers (ISPs) from charging for and discriminating against content, in a 3-2 vote along party lines.
16 December 2017 — TRNN
The FCC repeal of net neutrality is dangerous, but with court challenges and more grassroots activism on the way, it can still be stopped, says says Craig Aaron of Free Press (inc. transcript) Continue reading
14 December 2017 — TRNN
Ajit Pai’s FCC voted Thursday to end net neutrality regulations despite fierce opposition
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted Thursday to overturn the so-called net neutrality rules that prevent internet service providers from favoring certain sites with higher speeds, while jamming up others.
Net neutrality was the result of activist campaigns in 2015. Craig Aaron, president of the advocacy group Free Press, calls net neutrality the “First Amendment of the internet,” which ensure that “when you go online, you can go wherever you want; do whatever you want; download whatever you want; and it’s not up to Comcast, Verizon or AT&T to decide which websites are going to work and which aren’t.”
14 December 2017 — FAIR
The FCC is under attack—and so too is the First Amendment. As the primary regulator of how media and information gets to our nation’s citizens, the Federal Communications Commission has a critical role to play in protecting the open Internet, free speech, and free press in our democracy. Though the agency has always enjoyed a cozy relationship with the industries it regulates, ever since the Trump administration arrived in Washington, the FCC’s mission to preserve the public commons has been threatened, assaulted and torn asunder. And like a bad horror movie cliché, these calls to eviscerate the FCC have been coming from inside the agency.
22 November 2017 — FreePress
On Wednesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai released his draft order to completely eradicate Net Neutrality.
You can read the full text here. The short version is that Pai’s order takes the Net Neutrality rules off the books and abandons the court-approved Title II legal framework that served as the basis for the successful 2015 Open Internet Order.
22 November 2017 — FreePress
On Wednesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai released his draft order to completely eradicate Net Neutrality.
You can read the full text here. The short version is that Pai’s order takes the Net Neutrality rules off the books and abandons the court-approved Title II legal framework that served as the basis for the successful 2015 Open Internet Order.
29 November 2017 — OpenMedia
As I’m sure you’ve seen, it’s been all hands on deck to save Net Neutrality in the U.S. We need you to add your name now to our worldwide message to Republican Congressional leaders to stop the FCC from destroying the free and open Internet as we know it.
This won’t just impact Americans, it will disrupt the Internet for all of us who depend on it.
We only have until December 14th to save Net Neutrality. If you haven’t yet, please add your name.
25 November 2017 — WSWS
Wednesday’s move by the Trump administration to end net neutrality marks a milestone in the offensive by the US government and major corporations to put an end to the free and open internet, paving the way for widespread government censorship of oppositional news and analysis.
Under the current law, upheld by numerous court decisions and reaffirmed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2015, companies that provide internet access to users, known as internet service providers (ISPs), cannot block or impede their users’ access to any website or service.
21 September 2017 — Youtube
The FCC wants to let companies like Verizon and Comcast censor and throttle the Internet. This is how we fight back.
8 May 2017 — FAIR
This morning Sinclair Broadcast Group, the conservative media behemoth that owns more local news stations than any other company in the country, just got even bigger. It announced it was buying Tribune Media for $3.9 billion, creating what Bloomberg (5/8/17) calls a “TV goliath.”
The purchase, which gives Sinclair a staggering reach of nearly 69 percent of the US population (Free Press, 5/8/17), would’ve been in violation of ownership restrictions just weeks ago. But last month, the Trump-appointed FCC chair, Ajit Pai, reinstated the “UHF discount,” an outdated loophole that allowed media conglomerates to exceed the nation’s 39 percent cap on ownership (New York Post, 4/20/17). Sinclair made a $420 million deal to buy Bonten Media Group (Baltimore Sun, 4/21/17) the very next day.
24 February 2017— FAIR
Janine Jackson interviewed Jessica Gonzalez about new FCC chair Ajit Pai for the February 17, 2017, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
Jessica Gonzalez: “Our voices are making a difference, and making it more difficult for them and the administration to undo all of the important consumer protections that we fought so hard for.”
18 February 2017 — FAIR
Ajit Pai (photo: FCC)
This week on CounterSpin: “T-Mobile Very Pleased with Direction of Change under Trump Administration, CEO Says.” That headline tells you pretty much what you need to know about Ajit Pai, Trump’s choice of chair for the FCC—the entity charged with representing the public interest in the communications industry. The phone company exec is pleased, he says, because Pai’s appointment signals “an air of less regulation.”
12 June 2014 — The Greanville Post
The corporate attack on the Internet, a creeping takeover by businesses with the tacit support of the government, threatens to destroy the Net as we know it. We all know what business values are, and what they signify when they run amuck in society.
5 June 2014 — Reset the Net!
Hey team,
My fingers are trembling a bit as I type this email — partly from exhaustion but mostly from tremendous excitement. Tomorrow we Reset the Net, and start on a path toward securing the web, and defending freedom for generations to come.
29 May 2014 — Reset the Net
“On June 5, I will take strong steps to protect my freedom from government mass surveillance. I expect the services I use to do the same.”
A few weeks ago we organized a game-changing encampment at the FCC that helped put REAL net neutrality back on the table, even as corporate lobbyists are pulling out all the stops to kill it. Continue reading
9 May 2014 — Fight for the Future
It’s happening. A group of dedicated net neutrality activists are gathering right now outside the FCC’s headquarters in Washington DC. They brought, banners, signs and… sleeping bags.
The New Dark Age 