Be The Media

Digital Inclusion Summit: Community Internet For All!

The Internet can be a powerful tool for communication, education, and creativity. But many people cannot take advantage of this resource because of financial barriers, disabilities, low-literacy, and limited English fluency.

Help us develop practical solutions to end this digital divide by making the Internet, hardware, software, and services affordable and accessible for everyone.

The Oakland Digital Inclusion Summit will be held on Friday, February 15, 2008 from 10am to 6pm at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon Street, Oakland, CA.

Registration is F-R-E-E! http://media-alliance.stores.yahoo.net/intomac6hrm.

In the morning, hip-hop historian and community activist Davey D will give a keynote and moderate a panel called "Bridging the Gap: How Communities Attack the Digital Divide."

"Bridging the Gap" panelists include:
* Davey D (moderator)
* David Glover: Executive Director, OCCUR, Eastmont Computing Center
* Laura Valdez: Executive Director, Caminos Pathways
* Xavier Leonard: Executive Director, Heads on Fire
* Cynthia Mackey: Member, Mayor Dellum's Citizen's Task Force
* Craig Settles: President, Successful.com, Author

In the afternoon, Be The Media Publisher David Mathison will moderate a session called "Creating Platforms for Success." This panel will be videotaped and aired here. It is the second part of our two-part video series on COMMUNITY INTERNET. Part One of the video series can be seen here.

"Creating Platforms for Success" panelists include:
* David Mathison (moderator)
* Esme Vos: Founder, Muniwireless.com
* Sascha Meinrath: Executive Director, CUWiN
* Dr Faye McNair-Knox: Executive Director, One East Palo Alto
* Ken Gordon: IT Manager, City of Oakland
* Greg Epler Wood: Vermont Triple Play Ownership Project

The event is co-sponsored by Media-Alliance and Media Action Marin, among others.

Now is the time for everyone to GET CONNECTED!

Learn how to create your own Community Internet
See chapter 19 of BE THE MEDIA:

COMMUNITY INTERNET: Internet Access as a Public Utility

On December 14, Be The Media and Media Action Marin presented Part One of a two-part television program on Community Internet and Digital Inclusion, titled:

"Internet Access as a Public Utility"

Moderated by David Mathison, panelists included:

• Tim Redmond: Executive Editor, San Francisco Bay Guardian
• Eloise Lee: Project Director, Broadband Access, Media-Alliance.org
• Andrew Berman: Chairman, Marin Telecommunications Agency
• Peter Franck: Chairman, Media Action Marin

The second part of the show will explore various Community Internet solutions in use around the US. That show will be taped during Media-Alliance's Digital Inclusion Summit at Laney College Theater in Oakland on February 15, 2008.

To brush up on Community Internet and Digital Inclusion, check out Media-Alliance's free Digital Inclusion Advocacy Toolkit.

Learn how to create your own Community Internet
See chapter 19 of BE THE MEDIA:

Net Neutrality in a Nutshell

Watch this video on the importance of net neutrality, the Internet's first amendment. Tell your friends, call your representatives, and click here to sign the petition. Save the Internet!

Be The Media Icon

THANKS KATHLEEN!

Help Bill Moyers Save The Internet

Help Bill Moyers and the SaveTheInternet coalition!

Tune in to "The Net at Risk," a documentary produced by award-winning journalist Bill Moyers.

The show airs at 9pm tonight (Wednesday, October 18) in most cities on PBS. Check local listings here. After the east coast broadcast of the show, PBS.org will host a live online debate between Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott and telco flack (and former Clinton aide) Mike McCurry.

To join the debate, go here on October 18 at 10:30 Eastern/7:30pm Pacific. Read more about Moyers' essay on Net Neutrality "Against an Imperial Internet" here. For more information on net neutrality and the campaign, visit www.savetheinternet.com.

FBI cans controversial surveillance tool

From Reuters:

"The FBI has all but retired its controversial e-mail wiretap system, formerly known as Carnivore, turning instead to commercially available software, according to two recently released reports to Congress.

The monitoring system, which was developed to intercept e-mail and monitor other online activities of suspected criminals, was not used in fiscal years 2002 and 2003, according to reports obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center under the Freedom of Information Act."

New hat in phone ring

By Yuki Noguchi in the Washington Post:

"Comcast Corp., the nation's biggest cable company, said yesterday it plans to roll out phone service over the Internet to all 21.5 million of its customers within the next year and a half, bringing the online technology into the mainstream.

The move could be the most significant challenge yet to traditional local phone companies such as Verizon Communications Inc., analysts said. Comcast has a well-established brand, and it can use its cable TV network to deliver telephone service, bypassing the established phone network altogether.

The company said it hopes to sign up 8 million customers for the $39.95-a-month phone service within five years by luring away customers from the regional phone companies. Cable and phone companies already compete directly in offering high-speed Internet service for computer users."

Supreme Court to decide Grokster case

By Andy Sullivan in Wired:

"The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider whether Internet file-trading networks should be held responsible when their users copy music, movies and other protected works without permission.

Online networks like Grokster and Morpheus allow millions of computer users to copy music and movies for free from each others' hard drives. Recording labels and movie studios say that cuts into their sales.

But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August that peer-to-peer networks cannot be held liable for copyright infringement because, like a videocassette recorder, they can be used for legitimate purposes as well.

Even as record labels challenge the appeals court's decision, they are tentatively embracing peer-to-peer networks as a way to cut distribution costs and reach out to listeners.

By the time the Supreme Court hears the case next spring, all four major labels — Vivendi Universal , EMI Group Plc , Sony BMG Music Entertainment <6758.T> and privately held Warner Music — could be distributing their songs over a new generation of peer-to-peer networks like Snocap and Mashboxx that promise to collect payment for songs."

Fast internet service for the people

By Jonathan Krim in the Washington Post:

"For the millions of people who cannot afford high-speed Internet access, some local officials think they've hit on the answer: Build government-owned networks to provide service at rates below what big telecommunications companies charge.

From San Francisco to St. Cloud, Fla., an estimated 200 communities are toying with community-owned networks, sparking a battle with cable and telephone companies over how public, or private, access to the Internet should be.

The companies are lobbying furiously to block such plans, fearful that their businesses would be hurt. Their efforts most recently paid off Tuesday night in Pennsylvania, where a new law bans local governments from creating their own networks without first giving the primary local phone company the chance to provide service.

Consumer advocates denounce the new Pennsylvania law. They say it amounts to governments now needing a permission slip from entrenched monopolies to put a vital economic and educational tool within everyone's reach."

Bytes and Bullets

By Lawrence Lessig in the Washington Post:

"A while back a federal court declared that the manufacturers of the most popular forms of peer-to-peer file-sharing technology are not liable for copyright infringement committed by people using their technology. Congress immediately sprang into action by taking up legislation to reverse the court's ruling. The goal is to make it clear that p2p manufacturers are indeed liable for copyright violations committed with their products. No doubt many hope this will drive the p2p companies out of business.

Technology people across the country are terrified by the idea. They fear that the standard being proposed by this law will force a wide range of technologies to justify themselves in federal court. A recent proposal from the Copyright Office purports to hold manufacturers responsible for "technolog[ies]" that "cause" copyright "infringement," if those technologies (1) rely on infringement for "commercial viability," (2) derive "a predominant portion" of their revenue from infringement and (3) rely on infringement to "attract individuals" to the technology.

I'm a strong opponent of this legislation, but not because I support copyright infringement. The technologies being attacked by this bill have plenty of important uses that have nothing to do with copyright infringement. This legislation would effectively eliminate them.

But there is a silver lining here, and it has to do with, of all things, a very old technology: guns. For if Congress passes this bill, on what principled basis can it then refuse to hold gun manufacturers responsible for the crimes committed with their technologies?

The parallels are unavoidable. Like p2p, firearms — including assault weapons and cop-killing bullets — cause harm. But also like p2p, guns — as the NRA and its followers will tell you — have "non-infringing uses" too. Thus, the gun lobby says, manufacturers should be exempt from responsibility for the crimes their customers commit. Guns don't kill people; people kill people."