One of the most promising signs of the early Obama administration was the appointment of Julius Genachowski to chair the FCC. There was significant hope that the days of coddling Big Media and permitting more consolidation and concentration of corporate influence was about to end. However, it is now turning into one of the most disappointing appointments as Genachowski appears to be caving on Network Neutrality, one of the most important free speech issues of this decade.<\/p>\n
The New York Times is reporting<\/a> that “Genachowski has decided not to use the commission’s telephone regulatory powers to govern broadband Internet service.”<\/em> He also seems to be prepared to allow Internet service providers to engage in “paid prioritization,”<\/em> which could lead to favoritism on the part of the ISPs and discrimination against smaller, independent web enterprises.<\/p>\n This is not exactly the sort of plan that was promised by candidate Obama in 2008. It charts a course that smothers efforts to increase broadband access while giving more control of the Internet to monopoly-minded corporations. Josh Silver of FreePress.net summarizes the ill-effects<\/a> of this proposal as “a shiny jewel for companies like AT&T and Comcast.”<\/em><\/p>\n Net Neutrality has been a target of right-wing disinformation for several years. They wrongly portray it as anything from a new Fairness Doctrine to something out of Hitler’s Germany or Stalin’s Russia. That is how obsessed they are with defeating a proposal whose actual purpose is to protect a free and open Internet. That’s how obsessed they are with advancing the interests of their wealthy benefactors at the expense of the American people.<\/p>\n This administration has been notably weak-kneed when it comes to anything remotely controversial. They demonstrated this tendency to bail with Van Jones, Shirley Sherrod, the Public Option in the health care debate, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and presently the matter of extending tax cuts to the wealthy. It seems that any opposition to common sense progressive proposals is met with complete surrender. We can’t let liars like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh drive the debate. And we can’t let the White House cave in to pressure from factions that represent greed and corporate power.<\/p>\n You can fight back by signing this petition from Bold Progressives<\/a> to urge the FCC to protect free speech online by supporting Net Neutrality. And here’s another from Credo Action<\/a>. Or you can use this form<\/a> to contact the FCC directly and submit your comments. But you only have a couple of weeks, so act soon. You will surely regret it if you don’t and you later find that you can’t access some of your favorite web sites because they were blocked by ISPs because they couldn’t pay the toll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the most promising signs of the early Obama administration was the appointment of Julius Genachowski to chair the FCC. There was significant hope that the days of coddling Big Media and permitting more consolidation and concentration of corporate influence was about to end. However, it is now turning into one of the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,90,1,7],"tags":[1138,847],"class_list":["post-3354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-media","category-fcc","category-general","category-internet-freedom","tag-fcc","tag-net-neutrality"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-S6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1175,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1175","url_meta":{"origin":3354,"position":0},"title":"Obama To Name Julius Genachowski To Chair The FCC","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/13\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember this name: Julius Genachowski. He appears to be Barack Obama's choice for chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. In that role he will have an opportunity to not only undue a lot of the damage done by Bush's henchmen in the post, Michael Powell and Kevin Martin, but he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FCC"","block_context":{"text":"FCC","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=90"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3975,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3975","url_meta":{"origin":3354,"position":1},"title":"GOP Leader Seeks To Reverse Ban On Snipe Hunting","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/2\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In a speech at the Akron Sportsman's Lodge, Republican House Speaker John Boehner promised local game stalkers that he would soon be taking up legislation to remove snipes from the endangered species list. This action is a prerequisite for granting permits for snipe hunts. Boehner told the appreciative audience that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FCC"","block_context":{"text":"FCC","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=90"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1135,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1135","url_meta":{"origin":3354,"position":2},"title":"Change At FCC And Congress: Good News For Media Reform","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/21\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The signature slogan for the 2008 campaign season was a single word that can spark a thousand interpretations: CHANGE! [It narrowly beat out \"Maverick\" and \"You Betcha\"] And change there will be. This week, something happened in the House of Representatives that is almost unheard of. The sacred principle of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FCC"","block_context":{"text":"FCC","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=90"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11438,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=11438","url_meta":{"origin":3354,"position":3},"title":"Koch Brothers Take Their Campaign To Kill Net Neutrality To Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/5\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month the corporate-friendly majority on the Supreme Court struck down FCC rules that required Internet service providers (ISP) to treat all content equally. Known as \"Network Neutrality,\" these rules prevent companies like AT&T from providing fast service for Internet sites it favors, while impeding content from those it does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox Nation","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnation-fcc-regulate-internet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15848,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=15848","url_meta":{"origin":3354,"position":4},"title":"John Oliver Explains “Preventing Cable Company Fuckery” (aka Net Neutrality)","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/2\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In a hilarious rant on Network Neutrality, HBO's John Oliver delivers about as good an explanation of the concept as I've ever heard (video below). Even better, he calls out the corporations and special interests who are trying to co-opt the Internet for their nefarious purposes. Oliver hits on every\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"John Oliver Net Neutrality","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/net-neutrality-oliver.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/net-neutrality-oliver.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/net-neutrality-oliver.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":829,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=829","url_meta":{"origin":3354,"position":5},"title":"John McCain’s Opposition To Fair And Balanced Media","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/12\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The past several months have seen the rise of a variety of public discussions centered on the media. The Media Ownership Act of 2007 was introduced in the Senate. The FCC held their dog and pony hearings on consolidation, complete with the mischief of Comcast paying seat-fillers to prevent critics\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3354"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3357,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354\/revisions\/3357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}