The battle over federal "net neutrality" rules will resume when a federal appeals court takes up the challenge filed by one of the country's largest Internet service providers: Verizon.
Join National Civil Rights Call for Economic Justice – Telephone Lifeline
Filed Under: UCC Media Justice
Join Us: A National Civil Rights Call on Protecting and Expanding the Lifeline Program, September 12th, 2-3pm EST
Thanks to the Lifeline program, our nation's most vulnerable and chronically underserved – struggling families, communities of color, native populations, seniors, veterans, and rural residents—are able to maintain telephone service that would otherwise be unaffordable. But recent media attention has ignored the benefits of this critical program, focusing instead on perceptions of fraud and abuse. Read our blog post on the Lifeline Program.
Join Representative Doris Matsui (D. CA-6), California Public Utilities Commissioner Catherine J.K. Sandoval, advocates, and experts for a national conference call to discuss the importance of protecting and expanding Lifeline. Speakers will discuss the most recent attacks on the program and how you can take action to protect and expand this essential service. There will be time for Q&A with speakers at the end of the call.
September 12, 2013, 2:00-3:00 p.m. EST
Please RSVP here to receive a dial-in number
Presenters:
- Keynote Address: Representative Doris Matsui, D. CA-6
- Edyael Casaperalta, Program and Research Associate, Center for Rural Strategies
- Commissioner Catherine J.K. Sandoval, California Public Utilities Commission
- Professor David Super, Georgetown Law School
- Jessica González, Vice President, Policy & Legal Affairs, National Hispanic Media Coalition
- Moderated by Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice President, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
This event is one of several activities designed to highlight National Telephone Discount Awareness Week. For more information, visit www.civilrights.org. Questions? Please email sadler@civilrights.org
Latest Pew Study Shows 70 Percent of US Has Broadband. But Access Is Still Unequal
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Pew released survey results showing that the percentage of Americans with home “high speed broadband” connections has ticked up from 66 to 70 percent since April 2012. Pew calls this a “small but statistically significant rise.” The news of an overall rise in “high-speed broadband” adoption will likely be trumpeted by America’s giant communications companies and policymakers as the bright spot: “We’re not doing so badly!” But before we start celebrating, it’s a good idea to look closely at the results.
Cable monopolies hurt consumers and the nation
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Choice and competitiveness are the casualties when big firms such as Time Warner and Comcast have no motive to upgrade speed or capacity. The filthy little secret of home and business Internet data services in the United States is that the vast majority of Americans receive them from their local monopoly cable provider, the two largest of which are the increasingly rapacious and indolent Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
Here’s how phone metadata can reveal your secrets
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
The National Security Agency’s surveillance program, now being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, only collects metadata about Americans’ phone calls—who they call, when, and how long the calls last. In defending the program, the government has cited a controversial 1979 Supreme Court decision that held that phone records are not protected by the Fourth Amendment because consumers do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their calling records.
Smart phone searches by police should raise alarm
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
The more we hear about President Obama's attitude toward privacy, the less we like. The latest eyebrow-raiser is the Administration's argument that the Fourth Amendment allows warrantless cell phone searches.
Aereo Wins Send Networks on Hunt to Stop Streaming TV
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
Broadcasters stymied by court losses in New York are turning to judges in California and Massachusetts in their campaign to shut down the Aereo.
Facebook and Google Try Self Help
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
It turns out you need lots and lots of cement when building Internet super-highways. Now web heavyweights like Google and Facebook want to mix their own.
Why don’t Facebook and Google just embrace that they’re monetizing the third world?
Filed Under: Benton Headlines
You’d be hard pressed to find many fooled that Internet.org is anything but a Trojan horse for some big tech companies to access new customers.