I know this is boring for a lot of folks and that at the end of the day, they’d prefer others to do the heavy lifting and thinking around this fight for Net Neutrality… More important than Donald Sterling and his remarks or even the girls in Nigeria is the fight to be able to effectively communicate to each other when such atrocities and wrong doings occur…
Whats at stake is that telecom companies have spent well over a billion dollars to try to convince law makers and the FCC to allow for fast lanes and slow lanes on the internet.. To make this simple, it works like this.. Currently the internet operates in such away that all of us are one click away from each other. My blog and the NY Times and CNN are all one click away. That’s what made the internet so great in theory … It evens out the playing field. The little guy can compete with the big guy via our one click separation
That concept has been problematic for those in power who essentially wanna create a system where high paying customers are a click away and everyone else might be 2 clicks 3 clicks maybe even 5 or 6 clicks away depending on what rates are set. This would mean a story reported by the Fox News about ‘Climate Change Being False‘ would be widely available and one click away while a story countering that claim on someone’s blog or small publication would be 4 clicks away and slow in loading up on your computer or smart phone..
If your into music and you’re an independent artist, someone signed to major label will be one click away while indy artists might be 2-3 clicks.. If you are running for office and don’t have a few million in the bank to be on the fast lane, you too may be 3 or 4 clicks away from the average user..
President Obama ran on the promise that he would keep Net Neutrality in place, but sadly he has appointed on two occasions FCC chairmen who are favorable to the telecom industry. The current chairman Tom Wheeler is a former telecom lobbyist who was hard at work trying to dismantle Net Neutrality. His current proposal is to have a pay to play internet complete with a fast lane for important people..
Now here’s the catch to all this.. Unlike most outlets that have tried to win big consolidation gains, the telecom industry for the past 10-15 years have breaded out a lot of Civil Rights Orgs as well as members of the Congressional Black Caucus.. They haven’t just breaded them out, they been given millions. They have been the main sponsor for conventions, have brought ad space in their brochures, websites and publications and have done what they felt was needed to head things off at the path..
Even though not having access to media outlets have been a big problem for our communities which are often marginalized, demonized and poisoned by dehumanizing content, many who are charged with protecting us have been silent on the issue..These telecoms have even given them slick talking points like saying Net Neutrality is preventing Black power or Brown Power etc..
How and why can that happen you ask? Well here’s the deal? Many of those brought off have been promised and assured fast lane access. This in turn centralizes their power in respective communities and circles and makes them proverbial ‘King/Queen makers’ So for example, lets say the Black community has a big issue we feel needs to be gotten to the masses under this new internet system.. We would be encouraged to go to Al Sharpton, Jesse or the NAACP and let them use their access to relay our cause..Some of us working on this issue have been in meetings and around folks who are eager that they will essentially be the only game in town under the new rules and hence they are either going along or remaining silent..This essentially is how privatization models work. The masses are dependent upon the charitable gestures and benevolence of a few..
Today (Thursday) the FCC will be voting on proposals to put this new scheme in motion.. Stay woke on this.. Call the FCC, Call your congressional rep and don’t let anyone stand in your way to communicate to your peoples.
Please write and let them know.
Chairman Tom Wheeler: Tom.Wheeler@fcc.gov
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn: Mignon.Clyburn@fcc.gov
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel: Jessica.Rosenworcel@fcc.gov
Commissioner Ajit Pai: Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov
Commissioner Michael O’Rielly: Mike.O’Rielly@fcc.gov
Below is our interview with Joe Torres of Free Press. He’s one of the key people helping lead the fight to protect Net Neutrality.. He’s also the co-author of the book ‘News For All The People‘ which is alandmark book chronicling the impact and eveolution of media as it relates to people of color. Here’s his very thorough breakdown on the situation at hand.
Another way to look at it is compare your internet to your cell phone. There’s ONE internet, and roughly one speed on the internet. Maybe it’s slow, but it’s all slow. If you pay a lot, it’s fast, but it’s all pretty fast. It’s also one price, more or less: there’s no special charges for video or email.
Compare that to cell phones. You have multiple incompatible carriers, so you can’t just take your phone to a new carrier. You have to pay different prices for different features, and some features like texting, are very expensive for the tiny amount of data they deliver. They even make it hard to get to the internet, by putting up their own portals as “the internet”, so they can promote their advertisers.
They want the internet to become more like cell phones, where you get nickel and dimed, and price gouged, all the time.