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Information Highway Robbers

By Joel Bleifuss

What makes the Internet revolutionary is that it is democratic, open to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. That could soon change. As In These Times went to press, the House was setting to vote on the “Communications Opportunity Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006,” a bill written by the telephone and cable TV corporations. Among other… return to article

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    There is a National Day of Out(R)age on May 24th to protest the telcos. Cities across the US are participating - info at http://saveaccess.org.

    Not to be overlooked! The COPE bill and Seate legislation will also impact the thousands of Public, Educational, and Governmental access channels and facilities around the country. The ‘National Franchise’ will remove local municipal oversight and administation of local video franchises and place it in the hands of the FCC.

    COPE is also currently written to ALLOW for Red-Lining. The provisions are weak at best - they give the Telcos ‘build-out’ requirements with no timetable specified.

    Go to: http://saveaccess.org to sign on to a letter to Congress that asks for stronger PEG provisions, net neutrality protections and the prevention of red-lining.

    United States Posted by werker on May 16, 2006 at 5:57 AM

    This is very important issue!  Watch this short entertaining video on the subject:  http://coanews.org/netfreedom

    Canada Posted by ryaninfo on May 22, 2006 at 10:48 PM

    I think you are missing the point. You are attempting to engage them when they have control over the thrust of the argument (i.e.: A “market-driven, unregulated internet) when what you should be doing is looking at the abrogration of Free-speech and freedom of the press. If this act is passed, what happens to IndyMedia.org, Al-Jazeerah, In These Times, Common Dreams and other alternative media?
    If you continue to just focus on the the fee aspect you miss the point: that this will finally eliminate all those organizations which are willing to report things the major corporate media do not cover unless, as now, they are forced to because the people can get alternative views from the internet.
    As long as they keep using the argument of a free market-driven internet where the alternative is SPAM kings and pornography (and how much do you want to bet the SPAM kings and Adult Entertainment sites CAN afford to pay for guaranteed access?) and you respond the same way, they will pass the bill.

    Canada Posted by diogenes_lamp on May 23, 2006 at 9:26 PM
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