Martin Luther King Day never meant that much to me. I grew up in a school district where I was a minority. I was an (epithet for white), I was a (epithet for Polish descent). I was a (epithet for German descent). I was a (epithet for culturally Jewish). I…
And one more report from the National Conference for Media Reform from Memphis. YOu will not ever find a public servant who is more dedicated and more cool--If you haven't seen him before, meet FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4HlStH059M[/youtube]
This is one of the continuing series of reports from the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis, Tennessee. The conference is sponsored by Free Press. This post concerns a presentation entitled "Children and Media Policy." Unfortunately, I was not able to hear this entire presentation. When I arrived, however,…
This post is yet another entry summarizing proceedings of the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis, Tennessee. The conference is sponsored by Free Press.
A panel presented yesterday was entitled “Saving the Internet.” [At his plenary speech, Bill Moyers has suggested an alternate way of designating this issue: “equal access to the Internet.”] At the panel presentation, Tim Wu summarized the concept of net neutrality issue. Tim is a professor at Columbia Law School who specializes in telecommunications law and copyright. In 2006, he wrote a book titled Who Controls the Internet.
Wu explain that the Internet is a meritocratic network. It is a place where we don’t need permission to speak. The aim of “net neutrality” is “to protect this no-permission” aspect of the Internet. The electric network of the Internet, itself, is a second form of neutrality. The idea is that any compatible device should be allowed to be connected to the network.
The function of net neutrality is to protect the Internet from incursions by phone companies and cable providers. If they had their way, the Internet will become like cable companies or “like the Chinese Internet,” where the provider tells you how you can use the network.
Wu previously worked with a telecommunications company. He was not proud of this, but admitted that his job was to try to sell ways to discriminate use based on content. Ironically, this is exactly what he is now concerned about. That is why he wrote a seminal paper …
For the past two days, I've been reporting from the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis. This conference is being sponsored by Free Press. Here is a link to the inspiring speech Bill Moyers delivered yesterday. I've sketched some notes below, as well, but there is no substitute for…