• AT&T Gambles and Again Loses

    Josh Levy
    November 29, 2011

    Last Tuesday, the FCC called for an "administrative hearing" on the AT&T/T-Mobile merger that signaled the agency’s opposition to the deal.

  • Don't Let Them Censor the Internet

    Josh Levy
    November 29, 2011

    The Senate will soon vote on a bill that would let big corporations censor websites at will.

    The bill — the Protect IP Act, or PIPA (S. 968) — is intended to stop online copyright piracy (just like SOPA, its cousin in the House). But PIPA’s authority is so broad it would give corporations unprecedented power to abuse our Internet freedoms.

  • AT&T, Verizon and Other Telecom Tax Dodgers

    Josh Levy
    November 18, 2011

    Big corporations have become a focal point for the nation’s anger and mistrust (see: Occupy Wall Street). It’s no wonder. As millions of Americans struggle to keep their homes and their jobs, big companies are continuing to post — and trumpet — record profits. That fact alone has many of us outraged.

    A new report, “Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers,” is sure to outrage us even more. Produced by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the study examines the income taxes paid (or not paid) by 280 companies in the Fortune 500.

  • American Censorship Day

    Josh Levy
    November 16, 2011

    Try it. Go to BoingBoing and try to read some blog posts. Or try to make out the logos at Reddit or Metafilter.

    Those sites and logos are blacked out to draw attention to American Censorship Day, a major effort by a coalition of dozens of groups including Public Knowledge, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mozilla and Free Press (longer list here) to kill the “Stop Online Piracy Act.” SOPA (H.R. 3261) is a bill moving through the House of Representatives that could rip apart the fabric of the open Internet — and introduce a new regime of online censorship.

  • No Robots on My Phone

    Josh Levy
    November 15, 2011

    If a new bill gets through Congress, marketing robots will invade your cellphone.

    The bill, called the “Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011” (H.R. 3035), would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to allow marketers and bill collectors to make endless calls to your mobile phone — just like they currently can on your landline, but this time using minutes that you are paying for.

  • Life in the Fast Lane

    Josh Levy
    November 15, 2011

    Opponents of Net Neutrality often argue that Internet Service Providers need to divide the Internet into fast and slow lanes — providing a fast lane for those who can pay, a slow lane for everyone else — to invest in a fast Internet for all.

  • Net Neutrality: What You Need to Know

    Josh Levy
    November 3, 2011

    Next week the Senate is expected to vote on a measure that could kill the Internet as we know it.

    The political process surrounding this “resolution of disapproval” — which will have a negative impact on small business owners, entrepreneurs, students, activists and everyone else who depends on the open Internet — is opaque and complicated.

  • Shareholders of the World Unite!

    Josh Levy
    October 27, 2011

    A memo from a group of AT&T shareholders — including the Beastie Boys’ Mike D — shows signs of a revolt from within. It calls for the company “to publicly commit to operate its wireless broadband network consistent with network neutrality principles.”

    That’s a big deal. In just a few weeks, the Senate will vote on a “resolution of disapproval” that would strip the FCC of its ability to enforce Net Neutrality rules.

  • Rip-Off or Reform?

    Josh Levy
    October 25, 2011

    Today the FCC announced its plan for revamping the Universal Service Fund. While the agency didn't rubber-stamp the plan written by AT&T and Verizon, it missed a chance to bring real pro-consumer reform to a wasteful system. 

    In our statement, Free Press Political Adviser Joel Kelsey said that the rules would still allow carriers to impose new charges on local subscribers:

    "The Commission did take steps to narrow the scope of these rate increases, but asking consumers to pay more into a broken system and letting the industry divvy up the pot will not increase broadband adoption. If the goal is to increase broadband adoption, prices should be going down, not up.”

  • High Schoolers Heart Free Speech

    Josh Levy
    October 13, 2011

    As millions of Facebook and Twitter users know, the Internet, more than any other medium, is dominated by the speech of billions.

    This has become a cliché but it’s true: The Internet is the greatest gift to free speech since the printing press.

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