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The Fate of the Internet. Decided in a Back Room
The Wall Street Journal just reported that the Federal Communications Commission is holding "closed-door meetings" with industry to broker a deal on Net Neutrality – the rule that keeps control over the Internet with the people who use it.
Given that the corporations at the table all profit from gaining control over information, the outcome won't be pretty.
The meetings include a small group of industry lobbyists representing the likes of AT&T, Verizon, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and Google. They reportedly met for two-and-a-half hours on Monday morning and will convene another meeting today. The goal according to insiders is to "reach consensus" on rules of the road for the Internet.
This is what a failed democracy looks like: After years of avid public support for Net Neutrality – involving millions of people from across the political spectrum – the federal regulator quietly huddles with industry lobbyists to eliminate basic protections and serve Wall Street’s bottom line.
We’ve seen government cater to big business in the same ways, prior to the BP oil disaster and the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. The Industry's regulatory capture of the Internet is now almost complete. The leadership of the one agency tasked with oversight of communications policy now thinks they can wriggle free of their obligation to protect the open Internet if only industry agrees on a solution.
Congress is holding its own series of meetings and, while they’ve been ambiguous on the details, many remain skeptical on whether the process will lead to an outcome that serves the public interest. After all, this is the same Congress that is bankrolled by the phone and cable lobby in excess of $100 million.
Why is this so startling even for the more cynical among us? The Obama administration promised to embrace a new era of government transparency. It’s the tool we were supposed to use to pry open policy-making and expose it to the light of public scrutiny.
In that spirit, President Obama pledged to "take a backseat to no one" in his support for Net Neutrality. He appointed Julius Genachowski to head the FCC -- the man who crafted his pro-Net Neutrality platform in 2008.
But the mere existence of these private meetings reveals to us a chairman who has fallen far short of expectations. Instead Genachowski is shying from the need to fortify the Internet’s open architecture in favor of deals made between DC power brokers.
These deals will determine who ultimately controls Internet content and innovation. Will phone and cable companies succeed in their decade-long push to take ownership of both the infrastructure of the Internet and the information that flows across its pipes? Will they cut in a few giant companies like Google and the recording industry to get their way?
Whatever the outcome, the public – including the tens of millions of Americans who use the Internet every day and in every way – are not being given a seat at the table.
Genachowski’s closed-door sessions come after six months of public comments on whether the agency should proceed with a rule to protect Net Neutrality.
During that period, more than 85 percent of comments received by the agency called for a strong Net Neutrality rule. Look at it this way: If a candidate received more than 85 percent of the vote, wouldn’t she have a mandate to decide on the public’s behalf?
In Chairman Genachowski’s alternative view of reality, though, the public is immaterial, and industry consensus supreme.
- Posted in
48 Comments so far
Show AllThank you, Timothy Karr.
The topic of this article could become the worst e-coup in the history of the Internet. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been monitoring the sound of corporate trouser zippers in expectation of success, and EFF is trying to hurl a steel bar into the squealing tank treads. How beholden we all are to them.
Below are links to three of the most important background material articles.
21 Oct 2009
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/net-neutrality-fcc-perils-and-promise
6 Apr 2010
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/court-rejects-fcc-authority-over-internet
3 May 2010
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/05/net-neutrality-fcc-trojan-horse-redux
Readers of Common Dreams now cannot say they were not warned.
Trylon
Already warned and aware of this some time ago. Signed the petitions, wrote letters and called congress people. Nothing of substance in response beyond how serious the "very important people" are taking this. It really doesn't seem to matter what the average person (the majority) says about anything. The internet seems to already have become a placebo to make us feel like we are communicating and having any effect when more than likely, it is all an illusion and we have no more power online than we do offline, beyond the small circle of our personal lives and contacts. We just get to pay more for it.
The internet is also a very powerful tool of surviellance with which the government and the corporations can monitor and record public discourse on any issue in real time, and so more effectively get into our heads for improved social control. And remember, there is no privacy online; aliases are bs and every keystroke, mouse click and website visit is monitored.
Exactly. If Goebbels had this kind of data about what people are really thinking, he would have an incredible tool for determining how to adjust his propaganda to achieve maximum effectiveness.
Clearly the corporations have virtually unchecked control over information, and they will tighten this control as much as they can. (e.g. BP's clampdown in wildlife pictures and contractual gag orders vis-a-vis the Gulf "spill") The only saving grace is that control is a funny thing, and so is propaganda. They work, up to a certain point, but beyond that point they become impossible.
We are now teetering on this point where large numbers of people are beginning to have the realization that they are being lied to and deceived almost continuously by "authorities". This loss of faith in the institutions of a society are ultimately what leads to its demise. No amount of happy-talk can reverse that process, as BP and the Obama administration is finding out firsthand. To the contrary, happy-talk is increasingly recognized as such, and as the disconnect between reality and the pronouncements of the talking-heads diverge, the lies become blatantly obvious.
You know how this is going to end. Move along now. Nothing to see here.
We need to know exactly which companies are involved in this piracy so we can all cancel our contracts with them the moment we can save the money to do so. A few million people cancelling might make an impression.
In the meantime, I suggest a LOT of calls from customers inquiring how much it would cost to cancel. Just to give them fair warning...
LOL it doesn't cost a DIME! Just because they say that there is a "termination" fee does not mean that you should pay it. Shit on 'em.
crisis\opportunity:
the internet, as with all manmade, powered things, will pass...
while it is here, the ultimate power it has is to get one message across, to bring us, together, to one moment in time:
the time the individual reclaims the inherent rights and responsibilities of daily life within the living world...
the rest is just passing notes...
Global Start Date: September 22, 2012...
Healthcare redeux:
When Barack Obama was running for president, he vowed to lead the most open and transparent government in history. Candidate Obama even promised to negotiate health care reform live on television.
Then it came time to govern, and President Obama has negotiated major parts of the health care bill behind closed doors. Earlier this year, he announced deals his administration had cut with drug companies and hospitals after brokering them out of public view
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28750.html
Sent from my iPhone
Cool. Telescreens for all!
10 years ago, I had a choice of being able to choose among a variety of free ISPs to dial up to. Today, I have to pick between a cable and a phone ISP and both are expensive, political, and unreliable as far as getting an ISP for Internet at home goes. Democracy on the Internet peaked in 2000 and has been on the decline ever since the tech bubble burst. The fate is already sealed. The only thing you can do at this point is try to find an open connection and hook up to it if you must. Capitalism does a swell job of producing thieves at the top.
Didn't read all of it,
soon as I saw Closed Door meetings with corporate execs
realized that I would still be a mushroom and would still
be getting screwed
Hey Obama.......S C R E W Y O U 1 0 T I M E S
Let's hope that when the "GREAT SCUMBAG" meets with McChrystal today that he drops the SCUMBAG with a strong right hook.
Would that be McScumbag or O'Scumbag?
Time to break out CB radios again?
The open internet was officially lost over two months ago though the story was largely censored from corporate mass media reporting.
Genachowski, FCC head and Obama buddy, with as much power as a Supreme Court Justice and Fed Chairman combined refused to implement a simple procedural maneuver to reclassify the internet following an Appeals Court decision.
The simple reclassification would've protected the openness of the internet and returned it to the people.
When Genachowski failed to make this basic and obvious move it was apparent a coup was taking place.
The greatest tool for democracy the world has ever known is now squarely back in the hands of the power-mad forces who detest the people.
The propaganda is now being written in a back room by the coup leaders.
They will try to convince the uninformed masses that the loss of internet freedom is actually the reverse.
So, what's new? Obama has reneged on virtually every campaign commitment he made. He goes out, gives a lofty speech among the common folk, then goes back to the White House and cuts the real deal in secret, behind closed doors, with the real power brokers in control of the economy. He has done it with financial reform, health care, pharmaceuticals, defense, GITMO; you name it. He is a fraud of the first order, but still manages to mesmerize all those bleeding-hearts who see only what they want to see and hear only what they want to hear. They so want to believe he is a Progressive Democrat, not the shill for the Repubicans he has always been in the tradition of William Jefferson (the blow job) Clinton.
His election ensured his place in history, but I rather doubt his future political accomplishments will be as easy.
Yeah, this simply how business is done here in merka. The only change we see is for the worse. Obama is just the latest BS artist Chief Public Relations Officer for the Corporate Mafia. Like Silvio Berlusconi said last year: he speaks much better than Bush and he has a better tan. At the end of the day, it makes no difference whether Ds or Rs are in charge, policy shifts ever right-ward.
You are not fit to lick Bill Clinton's boots.
As if you would let anyone else get NEAR Bill Clinton's boots! ;)
I thought Hillary wore the boots in that family.
I dare say, Perry, there is a place of honor reserved for you under his desk. And, kind sir, what will you be licking?
More change and hope we can believe in.
Had enough?
Free Market? Transparency? Accountability?
Please, those terms have been reduced to empty PR buzz words.
The USA has fallen woefully behind in high-speed internet connections and connection speeds.
Most of Europe, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan have much faster connection speeds at lower prices.
We get slower speeds at much higher prices, and it is getting worse. Just take a look at Comcast, ATT etc. pricing schedules and this becomes clear.
Allowing PRIVATE MONOPOLIES like Comcast to extort consumers is a classic example of how private short-term corporate interests are allowed to undermine not only consumer intereststs but also national competetiveness.
Any time I hear the term "free market" I laugh. Just one of the Big Lies
Another move by the police state stazi on a nation wide basis to stop Americans from getting the truth about what our government is doing.
I , hate Verspizon, not just because they spy on my phone calls and email, but because for 6 months I had these pricks follow in and out of everyone of my clients offices trashing my reputation.
They know I know, and I am still working for the same company , and the same clients, their lies did not hold.
What they did was help me to educate my fellow Americans that the Stazi will lie to screw Americans.
Step 1: Recognize that there is a problem.
Step 2: Analyze and understand the problem.
Step 3: Decide on a solution.
Step 4: Convince a majority to enact the solution.
Step 5: Implement the solution.
We do understand that there is a problem.
We are now on step 2.
Thank you, Ronald Reagan....from you all blessings (read, curses for the little guy) flow.
The State hates the internet. It can't control the way the herd thinks, it's to subversive.
@aliensoup...
Sad but so true. I know at some point corporate puppeteers will have to create an "internet 2" in order to maintain more censorship over online information (like China) as these exploitative corporations are subject to much much exposure with the free information accessible today.
The really sad part is that even in this age of information the avg citizens (majority) are just going day to day like hamsters w/o any real interest in the worldwide snatching of civil liberties and sovereignty (not to mention the destruction of nature and the eco system)
Human kind is in serious danger of corporate globalization and all the impersonal mechanics involved in maintaining this type of society. The sleeping giant (avg.citizen)can only be awakened by activists & truth seekers(like Common Dreams)
who are dedicated to justice truth...PyramidsNoon.com
I remember back in the early 70's there was talk of the possibility of an eventual convergence of the capitalist and communist systems. Well, that's sure look like what's happening, in the worst way possible, with the worst features of each system combined to maximise the power of the top over everyone else, with top-down control and capitalist exploitation enhanced by the latest technology.
I was interested to know whether there was some plan to censor or regulate parts of the internet. While this article seems to convey that yes, this may be the case, it doesn't give much factual information. What exactly is the subject of the meeting and what are risks to internet freedom. For a guy who's writing an article in support of internet freedom, I find it interesting that this article is so polemic, depriving the reader of his/her own analysis of the situation. Quite ironic that the writer doesn't give us the facts and let us make up our own minds about the situation.
The author isn't stopping you from making up your own mind. The fault lies in the corporations doing their closed door meetings. Your question "What exactly is the subject of the meeting and what are risks to internet freedom?" is supposed to be answered by the same corporate scumbags conducting their stealth meeting?
Do you know anything about capitalism and corporate abuse or do you need remedial training? I'll give you a starter. Thanks to capitalism, the average readers will defend the corporate criminals who are taking away their freedom behind closed doors and piece by piece to keep them from waking up and these same people will blame the whistleblowers.
I'm not in favor of the corporations here. I just wish there were more facts about what is going on in these meetings between govt. and corporate media in this case. Most people who read this site don't really need the editorializing. They're already on board with the fact that the government and corporations are on one side and civil society on the other. I'm just asking for more facts so I can determine what is coming down the pipeline in terms of internet censorship.
varadarajan_Mudaliar sez: "Quite ironic that the writer doesn't give us the facts and let us make up our own minds about the situation."
***
With all due respect, the writer provided this fact: "The meetings include a small group of industry lobbyists representing the likes of AT&T, Verizon, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and Google."
Now, feel free to make up your own mind about the degree to which those groups might be working in YOUR interest.
Oh, and welcome to the U.S. ... I assume these close-door confabs between business and "government" must be a new phenomenon for you?
It certainly doesn't seem to be good. But what exactly is it that they are discussing. Is there something that we should be aware of, other than the fact that corporations are in bed with the government (Hasn't that been obvious around here for at least a century and a half (if not more)? Seems) I just want to know what is the corporations' agenda with regard to the internet and what the average person who likes the freedom the internet provides can do about it. The article didn't really hit that.
I don't think the author knows. The title says it all..."Fate...Decided in a Back Room".
I've heard it speculated that the internet will look like this: Fast hook-ups and links to sports, msm, and shopping sites and long frustrating waits for independent sites and blogs.
Of course we've got to put the lid on the damn thing. They are already showing signs of putting it to very destructive uses, e.g., holding trials of faithful servants like the BP executives. That alone would be catastrophic. Definitely, it is high time that the appropriate operatives take charge of things.
Smedley Ambler III
Cheswick Hall
It would do well to point out that the Internet was an outgrowth of a DARPA program for assured communication in the case of a massive nuclear exchange.
Which means all computer communications in the US are part and parcel of the US Department of Defense, subject to Government intervention or interference without so much as a 'by-your-leave' to the Consumer public.
Betcha forgot that little tidbit of history...
I am astounded that people in this venue, like Galenwainwright, persist in totally accepting the conservative frame that "the government" is some devious force between you and freedom.
"The government" is we the people. "The government" is you! A strong government means a strong citizenry.
The government has control of the Internet and that is a good thing because we the people control the Internet.
Giving away control to private interests is what will take away YOUR freedom and power.
'The Government' is a collection of people who enjoy being in the upper echelons of society telling the rest of us what to do, how to live, who to love, etc.
And you completely missed my point.
The Internet, was and always has been, a segment of the US military to ensure communication in case other methods broke down in a major nuclear exchange. That it has become vital to the world economy and THE pre-eminent form of interpersonal communication is a happy side effect.
As for people, the common man per se, being 'in control' of anything pertaining to government, I suggest you try the following experiment:
1)Go to your local politician (doesn't matter at what level; civic, state, federal, whatever) and tell them that they answer to you (the people), and that you want to make a few changes in the way the country is run, say punishing those responsible for the present disaster in the Gulf.
2) Try not to be too surprised or angered when they either humor you or laugh in your face. Or call the police to have you carted off.
The reason you will find out is because compared to the Corporations who donate generously to get their pet politicians in office, the 'little people' like you and me don't count in their eyes. Unless you can whip out a check for a major political contribution, don't expect to be listened too.
'Private Interests' aka the Corporations OWN the politicians. And many, many politicians find work lobbying for the Corporations after they leave office, or sitting on their boards in a revolving door of sleaze.
And in case you didn't notice, most of your rights and freedoms have gone the way of the dodo during the past ten years in the name of 'fighting terrorism', especially habeus corpus and Miranda. Those that are left have been given priority for the Corporations as supercitizens.
Big business can't survive without life support. The life support it needs is captured through hijack of the people's institutions and theft of the people's energy.
The apologists for big business claim that the people can't build anything through consensual free will, that they need elites to organize/manage them. But this familiar lie is perhaps the most evil of class war assaults.
Big business offers the people benefits through their enslavement to elite masters. So for example, the Egyptian pyramids would never have been built without the people's enslavement. But what kind of benefit are monuments to elites?
When the people are trained to work together cooperatively, by free will, their productivity far exceeds big business, because a truly free people are by far the most creative and energetic. And they know what they need.
The implication is that people should demand civic structures, programs, and systems that support cooperation and free will in community productivity. Try voting for candidates in elections who support free will, and deny your vote to all those who fail.
The headline is wrong. The fate of the internet is not being decided in these backroom meetings. How to spin it to the public is what is being decided, how to make privatization look better, or look normal, or how to make people think nothing has changed or will change.
"The Fate of the Internet. Decided in a Back Room"
Well, it really wouldn't surprise me. It's not like the United States is really a credible, functioning democracy or anything...
People should be more aware of how an eerie form of fascism has infected our democracy called corporatism...where the interests, needs, and consensus of the corporations dominate the interests and desires of the American people who supposedly control this 'democracy'.
Without Prejudice...
Let us not forget who is responsible for putting them in charge and giving them control in the first place. So long as you keep supporting this dead end economic system without making any change yourself and keeping it alive by voting in new figureheads to take control, and so long as you keep rushing out to buy the toys from the greedy corporate figureheads without a thought as to how much control you are giving them... you will sit on the bottom as bottom dwellers do.
It is time we realize that WE are the employers of those who portray themselves as in charge NOT the employees. WE control how much they earn and how much control over the system they have.
It is time to flush out the old economic system and bring in the new one that is focused on the survival of the human species as a whole, not just a select few.
The technology, the tools, the information and the education on how to do build a sustainable global economy are all right in front of you if you put down those toys that were made to keep you suppressed and pacified and educate yourself.
You have a choice, you can stop whining like you did with your parents who made all those silly rules you didn't like and stand up like an adult and change your life so that you are not dependent on greedy corporate figureheads and political tyranny and you may find the rest of world following your lead for the better of all of us.
Just Sayin'
Bring America Back !!!!
**Allow me to echo the below post of Galinwainwright, but
edplaining his bureaucratic acronym DARPA--which probably escapes most readers==it is the US Super Extra-Secret
"Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency" .
**The blogger's intent was to recognize that, although the
Information Superhighway (Internet), is a spinoff from that
Agency, it somehow gave us the freedoms of usage, and the proprietaries of say, Microsoft/Google/Yahoo we all know and love on our desktops.
The guillotines will be coming out and soon. I hope these poor examples of human beings have some fun because their end will not be pretty... History repeats...
Man, I registered just so I could tell OleManRiver that his post was one of the funniest things I've read in a long, long, long time...
...and it was gone by the time I got done registering.
Did the moderator just not 'get it'? There was nothing mean or rude in there, no cuss words, just an insanely intelligent train of thought.
I guess on this one, instead of 'you would have had to have been there', you would have had to have been educated.
I wish you'd re-post it...it was great.