Despite
very strong denials last week from Google and Verizon that they were not discussing ways around
Net Neutrality, Google and Verizon
held a conference today to announce their agreement to the establishment of price-tiered network services, dividing the current Internet into a "neutral public Internet" that remains "open" (and which preserves access to YouTube and other Google properties), and a set of paid, priority channels that Verizon and other telecoms can use to deliver certain other types of content at higher prices, particularly over cell networks and whatever future infrastructure the Internet will be carried over.
posted by Blazecock Pileon
on Aug 9, 2010 -
224 comments
Broadband.gov -- the FCC wants
you to have broadband, and to get what you're paying for. They've created a site which will benchmark your broadband for you.
posted by Chocolate Pickle
on Mar 12, 2010 -
72 comments
It doesn't seem as if the digital transition has been the resounding success we were told it would be. The
FCC has admitted that they're confounded
by some of the problems that have arisen across the country. With frustrated tv viewers mobbing the FCC hotlines (and major metropolises like Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore amongst the largest numbers reporting ongoing problems), some have yet to experience the mind-blowing crystal clear pictures and sound promised in those ubiquitous DTV commercials.
[more inside]
posted by Mael Oui
on Jun 15, 2009 -
111 comments
The current FCC case [
PDF] before the U.S. Supreme Court presents a fascinating dilemma for the judges:
how do you respectfully discuss the legality of profane words in the nation's highest court? And for reporters: how do you report on the specifics of the case? It seems decisions vary across publications:
NYT,
Washington Post (reg req),
LA Times,
Wall Street Journal,
Slate,
The Atlantic,
Bloomberg,
AP,
McClatchy. As for the judges themselves,
they opted to allow only substitute terms.
PDF transcript with word count at bottom.
Background.
posted by Tehanu
on Nov 6, 2008 -
26 comments
The talk show host, Miss Oprah Winfrey is illegally invading my privacy to promote show ideas on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Further, each time I gather evidence of proof, she pays people with her talk show earnings money to bribe them to destroy evidence. Many more complaints to the FCC about selected tv shows
here.
posted by oxford blue
on Jan 31, 2008 -
76 comments
Too Hot To Hear.
Fifty years ago today, a San Francisco Municipal Court judge ruled that Allen Ginsberg's Beat-era poem "Howl" was not obscene. Yet today, a New York public broadcasting station decided not to air the poem, fearing that the Federal Communications Commission will find it indecent and crush the network with crippling fines. More on Allen Ginsberg
here.
Via.
posted by amyms
on Oct 5, 2007 -
69 comments
(to the tune of
“My Country ‘Tis of Thee”)
My country used to be/
Sweet land of liberty/
That once was true/
Until the FCC/
Chose what we hear and see/
On radio and on TV/
FCC FU!
Choral and heavy metal versions also available for download.
posted by CCBC
on Dec 3, 2006 -
4 comments
New FCC head seeks to quietly gut independent DSL carriers. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has circulated a proposal that would eliminate the requirement of phone companies to lease their phone lines to competitors, effectively
cutting the throat of independent DSL carriers such as Covad, and their customers, such as EarthLink, AT&T, Concentric, AOL, and Sprint.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 gave Baby Bells the right to sell long distance service in exchange for opening up their networks to the public. Now the Bush administration are poised to undo this, killing a multibillion dollar industry, and giving monopoly control back to the Baby Bells, who aren't quite so small anymore, thanks to corporate mergers. If you like having all the broadband choices you currently have, you may want to
contact the FCC commissioners, toot sweet.
posted by insomnia_lj
on Jul 26, 2005 -
38 comments
Hey! Good news! (pdf) The
FCC recently issued notices that broadcasters must disclose the source of Video News Releases, or VNR's, which, if you haven't already heard, "... are essentially
prepackaged news stories, that may use actors to play reporters and include suggested scripts to
introduce the stories."
From the notice: "... listeners and viewers are entitled to know who seeks to persuade them with the programming offered over broadcast stations and cable systems."
The
GAO has
issued cautionary notices about VNR's before as a response to complaints that several government agencies were
walking fine lines with their "news" productions.
posted by odinsdream
on Apr 14, 2005 -
10 comments
Athens chief fumes at US lewdness claims because, out of 3.9 billion people (and about 56 million of them in the United States alone),
9 people in the United States complained of nudity in the opening ceremonies. It's one thing to have our very moral, rather infintesimal minority running what we all see, but what happens when that morality clashes cross-country? (The complaints are old news; the Grecian response is not.)
posted by FormlessOne
on Jan 19, 2005 -
61 comments
The mice that roar. "According to a new FCC estimate obtained by Mediaweek, nearly all indecency complaints in 2003—99.8 percent—were filed by the Parents Television Council, an activist group." We
already know what a few people can do to your television viewing... is
this man effectively in charge of the FCC's indecency monitoring?
posted by XQUZYPHYR
on Dec 7, 2004 -
15 comments
Apologevents Cuban says "Please make me apologize… The FCC as Marketing Partner" and he hits on the latest network trick.
posted by billsaysthis
on Nov 17, 2004 -
7 comments
Fox's 1.2 million dollar indecency fine was caused by three people complaining. Jeff Jarvis does a little investigative journalism that no mainstream outlets bothered to do. All he did was submit a freedom of information act request
via this form, and they sent him the 90 complaints they had on record (the original claim was 159 complaints). But it turns out 88 of them were nearly identical. So three people complained in America, and the FCC fined a network over a million dollars for a show that was already cancelled.
posted by mathowie
on Nov 15, 2004 -
39 comments
The Chilling Effect. Some ABC affiliates have opted not to broadcast a scheduled airing of
Saving Private Ryan, due to concerns over new FCC indecency regulations. They don't want to get fined. The FCC won't say in advance whether the film is indecent ("that would be censorship"). But don't worry, the
Parents Televsion Council says the "context" makes it OK. Which is fine, but who utlimately gets to judge the context?
posted by jpoulos
on Nov 11, 2004 -
75 comments
Howard Stern faces off against Michael Powell. Earlier today, Howard Stern finally got to confront his nemesis, FCC chair Michael Powell. This occurred, naturally, on the radio, when Howard called in to another talk show. Powell was a guest of KGO's Ronn Owens and Howard called in, asking Powell, "Does it make you nervous to talk to me?" He accuses Powell of getting his position due to nepotism; Stern also asks about
Oprah's indecency, and Powell says Stern "personalizes" the debate and says "I don't think we have made any particular crusade of the Howard Stern Show or you." Howard disagrees, saying, "I hope there's no sort of retribution as a result of my phone call which I believe Michael's capable of." After Howard hangs up, Michael admits, sort of, that "Howard has an argument." KGO has audio of the show for
Windows Media or
RealPlayer (skip ahead to 32:05 to hear Howard's call).
posted by realityblurred
on Oct 26, 2004 -
21 comments
There is no room for a left-wing Rush Limbaugh on the radio. "Do you think Karl Rove might have made a phone call to little General Powell, little Michael and said, 'Let's get this over with. Let's give him the fine and get this done with before Stern gets us all voted out of office,'" the National Enquirer’s Mike Walker asked Stern.
"First of all, I know that for a fact," Stern answered. "I can't even tell you how, just like you can't reveal your sources. I have two sources inside the FCC. They know exactly what is going on. They had a meeting two weeks ago, freaking out. I seem to be making enough noise that people are realizing we could hurt George W. Bush in the elections. So they are trying to figure out at what point do they fine me. So, you are absolutely right."
posted by skallas
on Mar 25, 2004 -
42 comments
Crap - now they FCC Thought Police are going after Pink Floyd. Is nothing sacred?! WNCX, a local Cleveland "Classic rock" station (who just happens to be the same station that airs The Howard Stern Show in the area) is unable to play Pink Floyd's "Money" because of the use of the word "bullshit" within the song. To be honest, until this was brought to my attention, I had completely overlooked that lyric in the song. But thanks to the FCC War Against Indency, I'm now fully aware of it! What other cases of 'indecency' would you have overlooked had the authorities not brought it to your attention?
posted by tgrundke
on Mar 13, 2004 -
63 comments
