FCC Rules Against Comcast, Score One For Net Neutrality

After last month's depressing loss concerning FISA and the validity of the Fourth Amendment in our Constitution, it was nice to get some good news on the 'electronic rights' front. Yesterday, the Federal Communications Committee ruled not for the big corporation, but the average, everyday Internet user.

From C|Net News:

The Federal Communications Commission handed Comcast a cease-and-desist order and required the company to disclose to subscribers in the future how it plans to manage traffic. Comcast had said that its measures to slow BitTorrent transfers, which it voluntarily ended in March, were necessary to prevent its network from being overrun.

"We need to protect consumers' access, said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican. "While Comcast has said it would stop the arbitrary blocking, consumers deserve to know that the commitment is backed up by legal enforcement."

The vote was not unexpected. Martin said recently that he planned to side with the commission's two Democrats on the request submitted in November by Free Press and its political allies, including some Yale, Harvard, and Stanford University law school faculty. That led to a backlash against Martin this week from economic conservatives, including the Bush administration and House Republican Leader John Boehner.

The party leaders within the GOP might have gotten upset with Martin for siding with those that challenge the dominance of corporate America, but there isn't much fear in their voice. Comcast will be appealing the decision and many doubt that the FCC has the strength to enforce their rulings. That could take an act of Congress to enable and Congress hasn't been ready to step up to the plate for the enforcers of Net Neutrality.

Perhaps with indicted Senator Ted "Internet Tubes" Stevens on his way out, we can make legislation come out of committee and onto the floor for a vote under President Obama, so the free-flow of information is not abated by a few internet providers such as Comcast.

Barry Nolan On Why He Was Fired...And What It All Means

Barry Nolan has quite the sense of humor. The post he penned yesterday for Think Progress was written by a pro and you can see it in the words and sentences. Mr. Nolan was recently fired for protesting an Emmy award honoring Bill O'Reilly. Falafel head has no honor and that is apparent every time the buffoon opens his mouth. When standing up for his principles, Comcast's Boston station let Barry Nolan go, but Barry has a parting shot for them....and words of wisdom for us.

From ThinkProgress:

O’Reilly was an appalling choice, not because of his political views, but because he simply gets the facts wrong, abuses his guests and the powerless in general, is delusional, and, well, you might want to Google: Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Plus there was that whole sexual harassment thing – the lawsuit he settled for an estimated $10 million. Not the kind of guy you normally think of when it comes time to pass out honors.

I found that most of my colleagues felt the same way. So, on May 10th at the Emmy Awards dinner, I quietly passed out a document that contained – not my opinion – but O’Reilly’s own words and quotes from his sexual harassment lawsuit. And that is what got me fired. I got fired from my job on a news and information network for reporting demonstrably true things in a room full of news people.

Normally, in the great scheme of things – this should be a total non-story. “Overpaid White Guy Gets Fired from Cushy Job for Shooting Mouth Off.” Yawn. But these are not normal times. After the word got out that I was fired – I started hearing from people from all over the country who were outraged. A guy in Texas who had once worked with O’Reilly and had seen a meltdown like the one on Youtube – a weather anchor in Arizona – a woman in China no less.

And it all got me to thinking about the myth of free speech. In today’s America, speech is only “free” when you are talking down to someone less powerful that you. Speak “up” – and look out.

In your work life, they can fire you, as I found out, for quietly saying something that is widely known to be true. Put a lid on it.

And in our role as citizens, we have been told by O’Reilly to shut up, or Fox Security may pay you a visit. We are called traitors if we simply speak the truth about the absence of WMD’s – the way the war is going – the disgraces of Abu Ghraib, of Gitmo, of waterboarding. Shut up.

So, when exactly do they think we have the right to speak up? To speak the quiet simple truth, to people who have more power than us?

Well, I think now would be a good time. The fog of fear is lifting. The balance of power is shifting. People are beginning to talk to each other again instead of shouting. I think it’s time to reclaim the right to free speech – even if it comes at a price.

Meanwhile, if anyone needs any lawn work done or his or her car detailed – give me a call.

If I had a lawn Barry, I'd be the first one to dial your number.

Comcast Pays Seat Warmers To Help Block The Net

Net Neutrality is a big deal, and so is the process for corporations like Comcast to make the net more suitable for their bottom line and not for equal access to the Internet. Right now the FCC is touring the country to get public comments from Americans to see what they think about companies being allowed to filter certain sites and speeds of communication at their whim. Comcast, being the greedy corporation that they are doesn't want to play fairly, so they hired seat warmers to stay silent and keep the interested public out of the hearing in Boston.

From Save The Internet:

Comcast — or someone who really, really likes Comcast — evidently bused in its own crowd. These seat-warmers, were paid to fill the room, a move that kept others from taking part.

[Update: Comcast admits to paying people to stack the room in their favor. Read the report.]

They arrived en masse some 90 minutes before the hearing began and occupied almost every available seat, upon which many promptly fell asleep (picture above).

Comcast’s sleeper cell

One told us that he was “just getting paid to hold someone’s seat.”

>> Listen to the audio

He added that he had no idea what the meeting was about.

If he was holding someone else’s seat, he never gave it up.

Many of this early crowd had mysteriously matching yellow highlighters stuck in their lapels.

Comcast payoff

We also photographed them outside the venue being handed papers by an organizer who had been seen earlier talking with several of the Comcast people at the hearing.

Here’s why this is a problem. Comcast clearly paid disinterested people to fill seats. This barred interested citizens from entering.

More than 100 people who arrived at the appointed time for the hearing were turned away by campus police because the room was already full.

Barred: The interested public

The Cambridge hearing is part of the FCC’s ongoing investigation into Comcast’s blocking of Internet traffic. But there’s much more at stake. We are at a critical juncture, where it will be decided whether we have a closed Internet controlled by a small handful of giant corporations, or an open Internet controlled by the people who use it.

Comcast wants the former — to dictate which Web sites and services go fast, slow or don’t load at all. And they’re backed by the other would-be gatekeepers at AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner.

Comcast doesn't give a rats you know what about you, whether you're a customer of theirs or not. This is about control, plain and simple. Corporations like Comcast want to own us, its their inherent nature. They'll do anything for absolute power in order to make a larger profit and if controlling information is part of the game plan, then so be it. This is why we need to show up, en masse and apparently early to tell the FCC (and then Congress) that Net Neutrality must stand.

Investigate George Bush, Not The NFL

Investigating high crimes and misdemeanors would seem like serious business with all of the serious charges and subsequent proof of them by our President. Instead of preserving our Constitution Arlen Specter is more focused on the NFL and in particular the New England Patriots for a "SpyGate" scandal. Why would he do this? Well when it comes to the old way of doing business in Washington, its all about the money.

From Attytood:

When Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter went more public last week with his increasingly strange and quixotic battle against the National Football League -- supposedly over the New England "Spygate" scandal -- some politically savvy wags raised an interesting point.

They noted that the longtime GOP stalwart's No. 2 source of campaign funds in recent years has been none other than employees of Comcast Corp. and their families, linked to at least $153,600 in donations going back to 1989. That's significant because Philadelphia-based Comcast has been engaged in a protracted war with the NFL over an issue that has nothing to do with New England and spying but is worth millions of dollars: Whether the cable giant can and should charge its consumers extra money to view the NFL Network.

Good find, but if you dig a little deeper...it's even worse than that.

Look again at the list, and see who Specter's No. 1 source of campaign contributions has been -- by far. That would the law firm -- also based here in Philly but with a large D.C. presence -- of Blank Rome LLC, now a growing lobbying powerhouse. Since 1989, partner and employees and family members from Blank Rome have donated $358, 483 to Specter's political kitty, dwarfing all others.

Hmm, now isn't that interesting?

Really it isn't, it is more of the same by the corruptive influences in Washington. Why people like Arlen get the respect they do is dumbfounding. So what if he is a Senator, serving in office for many years and getting re-elected over and over again. The thing is, he is not serving his constituents, just the ones that fork over barrels of money for his campaign. We need more of the opposite, the ones that value principles over the ones that want to stay in office for the sake of staying in office.

Comcast Broke The Law With Bush And Charged Him For It

Now that information shows that all of the major telecom companies except for Qwest played along with Bush's warrantless wiretappings, an interesting side note has emerged. Although the details are murky for Verizon and ATnT, documents show that Comcast charged the federal government for each time they broke the law and spied on someone.

From RawStory:

Comcast, which is among the nation's largest telecommunication companies, charges $1,000 to install a FISA wiretap and $750 for each additional month authorities want to keep an eye on suspects, according to the company's Handbook for Law Enforcement. Secrecy News obtained the document and published it Monday.

"I was actually surprised that this was such a routine transaction that it would have a set fee," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy.

Aftergood, who runs the Secrecy News blog, told RAW STORY that the Comcast document was the only one he has seen outlining wiretap procedures and costs, so he couldn't compare Comcast's fees with those charged by other telecoms.

So not only did your "trusted" phone carrier break the law and hundreds, if not thousands of people's identity exposed to various government agents, they secured payment at $1000 a pop. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know where that money came from either....straight from our pocketbooks.

To top it all off, Congress is seriously consider legalizing this practice. Seriously, WTF is going on in this "democracy."