Comcast Blocks the Internet, Then the Public

In recent decades the Federal Communications Commission has come down on the side of Big Telco--the biggest media companies--rather than looking out for the consumer. This time all indications are that the FCC will take a closer look into the public interest; the regulatory agency is taking very seriously Comcast's proven BLOCKING of internet communication.

Other big telcos have been guilty of similar crimes against the public.

Verizon: Caught blocking text messages sent by NARAL Pro-Choice America to its own members.

AT&T: Found censoring Pearl Jam during an online broadcast of a concert in which they criticized President Bush.

Comcast: MIT professors, the Associated Press, and The Electronic Frontier Foundation confirmed in 2007 that the giant cable company had been secretly blocking and degrading particular applications, continuing to do so for months, meanwhile denying its action publicly.

And Comcast didn't stop there. After consumer groups and law scholars filed a petition with the FCC asking the agency to find that Comcast's misdeeds violated consumers' rights, Comcast formed a plan to prevent the public from attending a hearing scheduled at Harvard. In an amazingly arrogant move, Comcast actually hired seat-warmers to fill the room. Quick thinking activists from Free Press, a consumer advocate group, caught part of Comcast's "sleeper cell" on tape actually snoozing through the hearing. Free Press estimates that hundreds of interested citizens, meanwhile, were turned away for lack of space.

Now it is time for a RE-DO hearing and activists from a variety of internet advocacy groups, including the Media Alliance of Oakland, California and the Raging Grannies Action League centered in the Palo Alto area, will be on hand with academic scholars and internet experts to express our voice for "net neutrality".

Do you want a closed Internet controlled by big phone and cable companies or an open Internet controlled by the people who use it? Please take the time to attend the FCC hearing at Stanford University

Update: Shortly after the FCC announced the Stanford hearing, Comcast publicized plans to collaborate with BitTorrent Inc. -- a peer-to-peer company that shares its name with the popular protocol. News of the arrangement was met with widespread skepticism. One side deal does NOT a free internet make! The FCC needs to outlaw internet discrimination and blocking on ALL networks.

WHAT: FCC Hearing on the Future of the Internet
DATE: Thursday, April 17, 2008
TIME: Line-Up and Raging Granny entertainment from 10:30 am to noon

HEARING 12 p.m. - 7 p.m. 

WHERE: Stanford University, Dinkelspiel Auditorium, 471 Lagunita Drive, Palo Alto, CA

For the latest information on the hearing and how to send a message to the FCC visit http://www.savetheinternet.com/=stanford

Websites of interest:

http://www.FreePress.net (for more photos of the Harvard FCC hearing blocked by Comcast and information on legislative action)
http://www.Media-Alliance.org (links to articles including Comcast Stifling BitTorrent Uploads)
http://www.PublicKnowledge.org (consumer rights in the emerging digital culture)
http://www.RagingGrannies.com (Raging Grannies Action League, Palo Alto based peace and justice performance group)