We’ve accomplished a lot in 2012, but when it comes to the fight for better media there is always more to do. Here are three critical issues we must tackle in the coming year.
Talk about a crappy present. Before the holidays we warned you that Congress was about to hand us a lump of coal in the form of the FISA Amendments Act.
Well, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! You got your coal.
The Federal Communications Commission is pushing a plan to gut its 30-year-old newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban. This proposal would allow one company to own a local paper, two TV stations and up to eight radio stations in a single market. Advocates of more media consolidation argue that allowing TV stations and newspapers to merge is critical to cutting costs and saving local journalism.
Did you know you can help fund Free Press’ work to change the media and build a better democracy — without spending a penny?
Here’s how: Vote for Free Press via the CREDO 2012 Donations Ballot.
2012 was a huge year for Internet freedom.
We stopped SOPA and PIPA. We forced AT&T to relent when it blocked the FaceTime video-calling app. We stopped the march toward privacy-killing cybersecurity legislation. And we put forward a vision of Internet freedom for all.
Instagram’s changes to its terms of service are the most recent in a long string of events that remind us of the deal we make when we embrace “free” commercial platforms online. Now Instagram is going back to the drawing board, clarifying and revising its rules.
From video-streaming sites to online education platforms to cloud computing services, innovative new Internet applications are using more and more data. But a trend is stifling the promise of these new technologies: the rise of increasingly restrictive data caps.
Internet service providers use these caps to limit how much data people use each month: Exceed the cap and you have to pay more.
Last April I wrote a blog about Facebook’s purchase of Instagram. In the blog I discussed how I left Facebook in 2010, and how I joined Instagram shortly thereafter, and how I now wondered about being pulled back into the FB empire.
[UPDATED 12/19/12]: At a press conference on Wednesday, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz said the agency will amend the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
