Cover Issue: Hostile Takeover of the Internet
Fox Should not Host Presidential
Debate
Fox News convinced the Democratic Party to let Fox host a nationally
televised Democratic presidential primary debate this summer in
Nevada!Fox isn't even a legitimate news channel! It's a right-wing
mouthpiece like Rush Limbaugh--is aggressive to open and fair debate.
Fox falsely claimed Sen. Barack Obama attended a terrorist school!
An
Email Campaign by Move-on.org
AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth are lobbying to end a
free and open internet.
Save the
Internet
The SavetheInternet.com Coalition is an alliance of organizations,
citizens, businesses and bloggers that have banded together to protect
Internet freedom.
Do you ever wonder where those dollars are going? The Council for Contemporary Families offers these tax facts:
For every $100 in income tax you pay,
* $32 goes to national defense
* $19 goes towards interest on the national debt
* $6 goes towards education, employment, and social services.
* $2 goes towards environment and natural resources
* $1 goes to science, space, and technology
If you contributed $30000 or 9.839462607910205e-7% of a total federal budget of $3,048,947,000,000.00.
Here's how the United States government would spend it:
* Department of Health and Human Services $6311.66 (21.039%)
* Social Security Administration $5829.39 (19.431%)
* Department of Defense--Military $5038.58 (16.795%)
* Department of the Treasury $4448.67 (14.829%)
* Other $1688.18 (5.627%)
* Department of Agriculture $941.75 (3.139%)
* Supplementals $922.72 (3.076%)
* Department of Education $826.36 (2.755%)
* Department of Veterans Affairs $692.8 (2.309%)
* Department of Homeland Security $656.81 (2.189%)
* Office of Personnel Management $624.4 (2.081%)
* Department of Transportation $602.7 (2.009%)
* Department of Labor $506.08 (1.687%)
* Department of Housing and Urban Development $460.56 (1.535%)
* Other Defense Civil Programs $449.35 (1.498%)
References
taxbreakdown.org -- site data
* Data Sources: Budget Data: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2005/sheets/outlays.csv
* Default Tax Amount Data: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdoc.cfm?index=7000&type=1
* Budget Data Shaping: Removed all top-level sources of income besides taxes for clarity.
* Left all subcategory income sources since they often offset expenses in that department
* Grouped all top level categories with value less than 1% into a single category for readability
* Default Tax Amount Data Shaping: Used 2003 data
* Average income of middle income quintile = $52,100
* Average tax rate for all federal taxes for middle income quintile = 14.5%
UNICEF's Tap Project
On World Water Day, March 22, 2007, hundreds of restaurants in New York City invited customers to donate just $1 for the tap water they usually enjoy for free. All the money raised through the Tap Project helps UNICEF save lives by providing safe drinking water to children around the world. Thanks to every restaurant, customer, donor, and organization who contributed to the Tap Project and helped make the first year a success! The Tap Project will be in cities across the country in March 2008. Stay tuned for updates.
New U.S. Fund for UNICEF public service announcement, featuring UNICEF Ambassadors: Danny Glover, Ralph Fiennes, Lucy Liu, Sarah Jessica Parker, Laurence Fishburne, Whoopi Goldberg, Tea Leoni, Susan Sarandon, Alyssa Milano, and Clay Aiken
Below
Government 2.0 - A vision of goverment interaction within a web 2.0 framework.
Tagging Language - Get the basic keyterms for tagging.
AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth have been quietly waiting in the shadows through the thick and thin of the internet's evolution, and now they want more than a piece of the action...they want to control the action. The sleeping giants are lobbying Congress for the right to end network neutrality on the internet.
This would mean the telecommunications companies would essentially make their own decisions as to which websites and organizations will have success in this vital medium. AT&T, Verizon, and Bell South could gain the power to select which websites and organizations will be successful and which sites will simply not work as well. Congress is in the process of updating and rewriting the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a key legal underpinning for media, telecommunications and Internet activity. In essence, if Congress buys into the telecommunication companys’ multi-million dollar lobbying campaign, this event could take away the decision power of consumers, users, businesses and potentially voters. The name of the bill that is being voted on is the “amendment to the COPE telecom law.” The Senate will also be voting on this issue as well—the name of the Senate bill is: Communications and Consumers Choice and Broadband Deployment act.
"Common Carriage" responsibilities were created, about 100 years ago, to ensure that all people and organizations have equal coverage with telephone service regardless of wealth or political orientation. Telecommunication companies must abide by these laws in order to provide service to the public. This law, which has been the same for the internet, is now in threat of being overturned by the influence of large telecommunications companies’ lobbying interests.
Who Does This Affect?
The short answer to the question is that it affects everyone. The
internet’s reach has penetrated every business industry, restructured
the way humans communicate and store information, increased efficiency,
altered the way we conduct business and participate politically.
"If carriers are able to control what consumers do on the Internet, that threatens the model of Internet communications that has been wildly successful," said Alan Davidson, Washington policy counsel for Google.
What is "network neutrality"?
The reason why the internet has fostered such great strides in innovation
is because no one organization controls the medium. Network neutrality
has been the guiding principle of the internet since its formation.
Content providers and users have open access to the exchange of
ideas and freedom of expression. The nullification of this freedom,
what this new amendment in essence will amount to, strips the basic
foundations of freedom of expression on the web allowing larger
businesses with more money to pay their way to the top and receive
the best network carriage service. Smaller businesses and the common
individual with a website will be forced to use poor quality network
services effectively baring them from reaching the internet audience
they currently interact with.
The Bills:
1. House Rep -- Cope Act – Telecom Bill – HR5252
2. Senate Bill – Communications and Consumers Choice and Broadband
Deployment act – Senate 2686
3. Markey Amendment – Net Neutrality Act of 2006
Actions to Voice Your Opinion:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/=act
http://www.civic.moveon.org/netblog/
Articles:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
http://www.freepress.net/deadend/=neutrality
www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.eff.org
http://www.newyorker.com
Michigan State University College of Law - Adam Candeub
New York City Area Information:
Should you wish to voice your opinion on this issue, the following
numbers are for representatives in your area.
For a list of phone numbers for Senator Offices for all states follow
this link: Contact the Senate.
Congressman Edolphus Towns
Phone: 202-225-5936
District Offices:
Brooklyn: 718-774-5682
Brooklyn: 718-855-8018
Brooklyn: 718-272-1175
Senator Charles Schumer
Phone: 202-224-6542
District Offices:
Albany: 518-431-4070
Binghamton: 607-772-6792
Buffalo: 716-846-4111
Melville: 631-753-0978
New York: 212-486-4430
Red Hook: 845-758-9741
Rochester: 585-263-5866
Syracuse: 315-423-5471
Senator Hillary Clinton
Phone: 202-224-4451
District Offices:
Albany: 518-431-0120
Buffalo: 716-854-9725
Hartsdale: 914-725-9294
Lowville: 315-376-6118
Melville: 631-249-2825
New York: 212-688-6262
Rochester: 585-263-6250
Syracuse: 315-448-0470
Senator Clinton's statement on the issue of Network Neutrality:
"Senator Clinton strongly believes that open access to the
internet for all consumers is critically important as telecommunications
market continues to evolve. While the Senate continues to debate
the need for net neutrality provisions to ensure widespread consumer
access in the upcoming telecommunications bill, Senator Clinton
will carefully consider all of the compelling arguments including
those made by Senators Dorgan, Smith and Snowe. She remains committed
to ensuring that internet access will be affordable, available and
valuable to all Americans as this bill moves forward."
Direct Quote from Email -- The Office of Senator Clinton
Google's Statement on the issue of Network Neutrality:
"Consumers should be able to control what they see and do online,
not broadband carriers. User control has made the Internet the most
innovative, competitive market in history.
Broadband providers should not be permitted to use their market power to control what consumers see and do online. For 100 years telephone companies have been prohibited from telling consumers who they can call. For two decades Internet carriers have been prohibited from dictating what users do online. Broadband carriers should not now be allowed to pick winners and losers in the competitive Internet market.
We face an uphill battle in a Congress that has been lobbied by
telephone companies for generations. But a broad groups of consumer
groups, publishers, small and large businesses are coming together
to fight for network neutrality."
Direct Quote from Email -- Google Corporate Communications
Division