The Big Tech Companies That Love Net Neutrality Have a Ton to Gain From Its Demise
A Q&A with Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu.
December 2017
‘Are You Normal?’ Putin Asks U.S. Congress in Annual News Gathering (New York Times)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Thu, 12/14/2017 - 13:25How the Disney-Fox megadeal could impact the news media
Disney's $52.4 billion holiday shopping spree puts 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets under Mickey Mouse's Christmas tree but leaves the Fox broadcast network, Fox News and Fox Business with Rupert Murdoch. “This merger seems to be explicitly not about the news businesses,” said Ben Gomes-Casseres, a former World Bank economist who specializes in mergers and acquisitions at the Brandeis International Business School. Ah, but what about side effects? What might Murdoch do with his pared-down company? And will Disney, with all its new toys, devote sufficient attention to ABC News?
Op-Ed: Chinese ownership is raising questions about the editorial independence of a major U.S. magazine (New York Times)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Thu, 12/14/2017 - 13:16
A goal realized: Network lobbyists’ sweeping capture of their regulator
[Commentary] When the Federal Communications Commission voted December 14 to repeal the rules protecting a fast, fair, and open internet, the lobbyists for the internet service providers realized their long-envisioned strategy to gut the authority of the agency that since 1934 has been charged with overseeing the activities of the nation’s essential networks. The companies’ goal: to move regulatory jurisdiction from the Federal Communications Commission to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Public Knowledge Calls for Thorough Antitrust Review of Disney-Fox Deal to Protect Consumers (Public Knowledge)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Thu, 12/14/2017 - 13:12Sen Blumenthal calls for DOJ to investigate Comcast-NBC Merger
Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is calling on the Justice Department to investigate whether the 2011 Comcast-NBC merger has hurt market competition. Sen Blumenthal sent a letter to the Trump administration's top antitrust prosecutor, Makan Delrahim, on Dec 13, asking him to revisit the deal and to try to keep in place behavioral conditions that are set to expire next year.
What if You Couldn’t Access This Page?
[Commentary] To taste a future without network neutrality, try browsing the web in Beijing. China’s internet, provided through telecom giants aligned with the Communist Party, is a digital dystopia, filtered by the vast censorship apparatus known as China’s Great Firewall. Some sites load with soul-withering slowness, or not at all. Others appear instantly. Content vanishes without warning or explanation. The culprit is rarely knowable. A faulty Wi-Fi router? A neighborhood power failure? Commercial sabotage? A clampdown on political dissent?