(Washington, DC) AT&T set some kind of precedent when it agreed to net neutrality requirements in its 11th hour BellSouth merger deal with the FCC, setting into motion the momentum for a net neutrality bill this Congress. Two prominent policy advocates, each on different sides of the net neutrality issue, agreed today that AT&T was strong-armed by Democrats and public interest groups into accepting the broadband non-discrimination requirements.
Speaking at The Media Institute’s Communications Forum luncheon, Precursor Group’s Scott Cleland said that AT&T’s concession on net neutrality should not serve as a precedent for legislation because the giant telecom carrier got “mugged in the political process.”
Public Knowledge’s Gigi Sohn happily agreed. “Yeah, it was extortion. But that’s just the way it is. I was happy to be part of that extortion,” she said, referring to Public Knowledge’s role in hammering out an acceptable net neutrality condition that would satisfy the Democratic commissioners.
Beyond that, however, the two advocates disagreed on just about everything else. Former FCC Chairman and “dean” of the communications bar Dick Wiley, who moderated Cleland and Sohn in a debate-style format, stated that despite their differences, both sides of the net neutrality issue “really argue that they are protecting the Internet.”
Cleland, who also runs an industry-backed lobbying group called Netcompetition.org, stressed that the whole net neutrality fight is premised on no evidence of wrong-doing by cable operators and phone companies. “What do net neutrality and [TV show] “Seinfeld” have in common? They’re both shows about nothing,” he said. “It’s a bogus issue…and all of the things you heard are unsubstantiated allegations.”
Sohn countered Cleland by saying that it doesn’t matter if broadband providers have been bad actors or not — the real issue is the lack of competition in broadband service delivery. “The problem is not that there have been so many instances of [broadband providers] blocking [content]. It’s that 98% of the broadband market is controlled by cable and phone companies.”
Sohn also urged the audience, composed largely of broadcast and cable network representatives, to jump into the debate. For the most part, Hollywood and TV programmers have left Internet companies, such as Google and Amazon.com, to carry the water on net neutrality. “I’ve been disappointed that folks like you haven’t been involved,” she said. “I urge content owners to consider whether they should sit out of this debate.”
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 3:59 PM | Print | Comments (4)Wired News’ Chaddus Bruce has this piece about how the CIA is using Facebook to pitch recruits. In December, the spook agency put up a page (login required) on the popular social networking site which features this almost-funny but serious YouTube video ad seeking recruits for its National Clandestine Service (NCS).
Unlike other arms of the government, the CIA is exempt from federal regulations regarding recruitment and hiring and is apparently the only government agency to go the social networking route. Although a smart move on the part of the CIA and NCS, this development is kind of…disquieting. For one thing, it’s not comforting to know that our spies are being recruited from a site where people discuss last night’s beer bong contest winners.
More unsettling still…the CIA is on Facebook! Are they spying on us? It seems I’m not the only person who had that immediate visceral reaction.
“If (the CIA) knows about Facebook, and they have a page on Facebook, it would be surprising if they weren’t using it in other ways,” says Nicole Ozer, civil liberties and technology policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 9:26 AM | Print | Comments (0)
Facebook’s privacy policy states that outside companies sponsoring groups don’t have access to personal information or profiles. However, it does say that information may be shared with “other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies,” in order to comply with the law.
Besides the fact that it isn’t technically a company, the CIA says it is only using Facebook as an advertisement for new recruits.
The New York Times’ Mark Landler has this piece today about the reworked guest list at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which has the theme of “Shaping the Global Agenda: The Shifting Power Equation.”
In recognition of the shift of power in communications, high-tech attendees this year include Chad Hurley from YouTube and, although the article doesn’t mention it but I happen to know, Blake Krikorian from SlingMedia, along with the by-now established Internet leaders Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google.
“The power shift is twofold,” said Klaus Schwab, the Swiss organizer who has managed to keep Davos a hot ticket for three decades by latching onto the latest political and business trends. “Power is shifting from the center to the periphery, and from the top to the bottom.”
Bloggers will be there, organized into something called the “Davos Conversation.” But some sessions, particularly those dealing with trade, will still take place behind closed doors.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:54 AM | Print | Comments (0)
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