Pam Brown's Blog l emission - control. net

AT&T Says Google Voice Violates Net Neutrality Principles

From The New York Times:

"AT&T is playing a “gotcha” with Google. The big phone company filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission Friday saying the Google Voice calling system violates the commission’s network neutrality principles.

At issue is Google’s decision not to connect Google Voice customers to certain conference calling and other lines because of what it says are excessive access charges by the providers of those lines. AT&T, which is required to connect its telephones to all lines, says Google is discriminating against certain uses of its network, a no-no in the network neutrality world."

AT&T Says Google Voice Violates Net Neutrality Principles 

FCC Defends Internet Regulation Authority

From Broadcasting & Cable:

"The FCC this week told a D.C. federal appeals court that it had the authority to take action against Comcast for "covertly interfering" with BitTorrent peer-to-peer traffic in violation of Internet openness principles, and doing so in an adjudicatory proceeding rather than a rulemaking.

That argument was made in a brief to the court on the same day FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced he proposed codifying and expanding those principles.
 
The commission also more broadly asserted its authority to regulate the Internet. "Congress created the FCC for cases such as this one," it told the court. "Congress gave the agency broad and adaptable jurisdiction so that it can keep pace with rapidly evolving communications technologies. The Internet is such a technology."

Comcast pulled the plug on the practice, but also challenged the legal basis and authority for the FCC to conclude that it was using unreasonable network management techniques and was not giving customers sufficient notice about how it was managing its network."

FCC Defends Internet Regulation Authority

What Network Neutrality Is REALLY About

From DSLreports.com:

"If you've paid attention, you know the modern "network neutrality" debate took off in 2005, when then AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre proudly, though dumbly, proclaimed that Google got a "free ride" on his network. According to Ed, this unfairness could only be rectified by charging companies who already pay for bandwidth money to ensure their traffic reaches AT&T consumers quickly. Such a bizarre statement obviously resulted in fear that phone companies planned to act as trolls under the metaphorical Internet bridge, grumpily extorting passers by. That created a desire by content companies and consumers for laws that would prevent this from happening.

The entire concept of network neutrality is really very simple. It was born out of phone company executive greed, and remains driven by legitimate fear of market abuses by companies with a long history of them. Unfortunately, over the years the debate has been so badly mutilated by PR folk, shoddy journalism and policy wonks that it has become a nonsensical mess."

What Network Neutrality Is REALLY About

The Newspaper Reinvention Kit: 4 Easy Steps To Becoming A New News Organization

From PaidContent.org:

"What will metro media markets look like in five years? 10 Years? There are a lot of people pondering these questions. That’s evident in the sheer amount of chatter – some of it bordering on desperation – about online subscriptions, micro-payments and other revenue models. One of the best and most comprehensive discussions of “new business models for news” is here, a presentation by CUNY’s Steve Shepard and Jeff Jarvis at the Aspen Institute’s Forum on Communication and Society."

The Newspaper Reinvention Kit: 4 Easy Steps To Becoming A New News Organization 

New Business Models for News CUNY/Aspen Institute Presentation

Only 5% of web users would pay for online news, reports survey

From The Guardian:

"If Rupert Murdoch thinks readers will pay to read his websites, maybe he should think again. Exclusive research commissioned by from Harris Interactive shows that most readers would run a mile."

Only 5% of web users would pay for online news, reports survey

FCC Defends Comcast Ruling

From The Daily Online Examiner:

"The Federal Communications Commission has asked an appellate court to rule that the agency had the authority to sanction Comcast for violating neutrality principles by blocking peer-to-peer traffic.

"The FCC has general jurisdiction over all interstate communications by radio and by wire, which includes Comcast's cable modem service," the agency argued in papers filed this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Therefore, the FCC says, it was entitled to sanction Comcast even in the absence of a specific law or regulation banning the company from degrading peer-to-peer traffic."

FCC Defends Comcast Ruling

Author Elizabeth Gilbert Discusses Redefining Creativity

If you've ever experienced a visit from a muse, when words drop, flowing freely on the page or screen in front of you, you know how enjoyable the creative experience can be.  On the other side, if you've ever experienced "writer's block", those long periods where the muse simply doesn't sing, you know that creative moments can be fleeting.  For most writers, this capriciousness naturally produces a sense of fear.  In the video TED talk below, the bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love discusses overcoming this dynamic in her own work by redefining creativity.

Senate Republicans Scrap Anti-Net Neutrality Push

From The Washington Post:

"Senate Republicans have stopped their push to prevent funding for the Federal Communication Commission as a protest of proposed net neutrality rules.

"While we are still generally opposed to net neutrality regulations, we have decided to hold off on the amendment because [FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski] approached us and we are beginning a dialogue," said a staff member on the committee."

Senate Republicans Scrap Anti-Net Neutrality Push

Trust in News Media Falls to New Low in Pew Survey

From The New York Times by Richard Pérez-Peña

"Trust in news media has reached a new low, with record numbers of Americans saying reporting is inaccurate, biased and shaped by special interests, according to a survey set to be released Monday.

The survey of 1,506 people interviewed in July by the Pew Research Center showed that self-described Republicans continued to take the dimmest view of news organizations, but discontent among Democrats was catching up."

Trust in News Media Falls to New Low in Pew Survey

Want to Change the Media? Be a Lobbyist

If you're interested in media reform, take the time to read the entire speech by Craig Aaron excerpted and linked below:

"I'm here to report on what's happening in Washington.

Washington is changing. It has been a different place. Even that swampy, muggy August weather hasn't seemed so disgusting this year. There's still optimism in the air.

I'm here to tell you that if you care about media and the arts, it matters who is in the White House. It matters who controls Congress.

Maybe most of all, it matters who gets appointed to those sometimes invisible but oh-so-important places like the NEA, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Federal Communications Commission.

That's because decisions being made right now -- and in the next few years -- at the White House, in Congress, and at these agencies are going to shape the future of all media for a generation.

They will decide ...

... If the Internet will remain open and free;

... If everyone will share in the benefits of broadband;

... If we're going to have a world-class public media system; and,

... If we'll have any hard-hitting public service journalism.

The good news is we now have friends in some of these key jobs. You know them. They will read your e-mails and return your calls. They want your ideas. They want to do the right thing.

Yes, Washington is changing. But there is a whole lot of Washington that still needs to change.

At Free Press, we often find ourselves going up against big phone and cable companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and AT&T.

We recently looked at just the first six months of the Obama administration. And we found that those four companies and their trade associations alone had hired more than 500 lobbyists -- that's one for almost every member of Congress -- and spent more than $45 million. And that's just what they report."

Read the whole speech by Craig Aaron of Free Press

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-aaron/want-to-change-the-media_b_277338.html