When the Press Becomes a Pipe, Who Controls
Cable and phone giants want to create tiers of service for delivering content on the Internet, upsetting the concept of “network neutrality.” Legal, technical and first-amendment experts will invite summit collaborators to help define the lines between commercial rights and free-speech obligations.
Co-speakers (in order on the podcast):
- Bill Densmore, director, The Media Giraffe Project
- David Eisenberg, fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School, former telecommunications researcher, Bell Laboratories
- Josh Silver, executive director, FreePress.net
- Casey Lide, Baller Herbst Law Group (represents municipalities)
- Larry Bloch, founder, Radio Free Brattleboro
- FOLLOWED BY Q-AND-A
Telcom industry “net neutrality” message
The telcom lobby has created this Flash animation to argue that the “net neutrality” debate is an effort by Google, Yahoo and others to stream video without having to pay for it:
www.dontregulate.org
This link is a clickthrough from a banner ad running on the home page of The Nation magazine.
— bill densmore
Not exactly a balanced discussion… so the telecoms didn’t show up. And yes, they made a crappy little PR animation, that’s no secret. But it was a bit unfair to have two polemic presentations before giving it to Casey to rationalize the telecom positions. I suppose some of us are just sensitive to the needs of business; forgive us.
Larry’s presentation about Radio Free Brattleboro was a good model, by contrast.