The telcos are conspiring to take away our freedom by becoming extensions of the government's domestic spying program, and by seizing control of the (formerly?) free Internet.
More over the fold:
Did Telcos Hire "Scapegoat" To Give NSA Phone Records?
By Paul Kiel and Justin Rood - May 19, 2006, 3:42 PM
A new Business Week article may help explain how AT&T and BellSouth can say they didn't help the NSA, despite the spy agency having millions of their records showing the call details of Americans using their networks.
The magazine reveals a hidden corner of the telecommunications world: a small group of companies who specialize in granting the government access to telecommunications records, conversations and real-time data on behalf of the telecom giants.
That's right: the government now makes so many requests for wiretaps, phone records and call information that an industry has sprung up to handle the load.
Rather than respond themselves to requests from the FBI and others, a telco can sign up with one of these companies, give them access to their call records and equipment, and let that third party do all the hard work. Link
Big Lie of the Week
Don't be fooled. Web sites like "Hands Off The Internet" are industry front groups -- the products of high-priced consultants bought and paid for by the cable and phone industry. Companies like AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth and their trade associations are spending millions every week to mislead and misinform the American public.
Their latest attempt to hoodwink Internet users is a cutesy cartoon at www.dontregulate.org -- a clever piece of industry propaganda that is riddled with half-truths and outright lies.
The telco giants cloak their real interests behind a populist message that sounds plausible, while undermining the work of genuine public and consumer advocates. Link
This is a link to my earlier diary about this: Deceptive Ads on Progressive Sites
This is a link to a very important video about this very real and immediate threat to our freedom! The Death of the Internet (video)
Please take a few minutes to watch the above video! I cannot overstate its importance - our remaining freedoms are truly at stake!
A link to another of my relevant diaries: Rightwing Assault on the Internet - Our Last Bastion of Freedom
Please forgive the diary pimping - but this is IMPORTANT!
More info. From other places:
Telcos Seek to Deceive Bloggers with Cartoon
Coming to a blog near you is a telecom-sponsored advertisement dressed up as an underground cartoon. It's the latest in the ongoing campaign by large phone companies to pull the wool over the eyes of the American public.
The cartoon is a product of a front group funded by AT&T and BellSouth. The group, Hands Off the Internet, is headed by Mike McCurry, the former Clinton Press Secretary who has been widely discredited for selling out his integrity to become the telephone industry's spokesmodel.
McCurry's group is now attempting to buy its way into the blogosphere, spending tens of thousands of dollars on a misinformation campaign against network neutrality -- the principle that keeps the Internet free and open to all. Link
Telcos wish to deny mass snooping
By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Published Friday 19th May 2006 11:21 GMT
BellSouth has demanded that USA Today must retract its story fingering the telco in the Bush Administration's mass domestic dragnet of phone records.
"BellSouth insists that your newspaper retract the false and unsubstantiated statements you have made regarding our company," the company demanded in a letter to USA Today president Craig Moon.
Previously, following last week's USA Today exposé, BellSouth had issued a statement claiming that it does not have a contract to supply the NSA with call records.
"Based on our review to date, we have confirmed no such contract exists, and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA," the statement said.
Notice that the statement did not say BellSouth had not supplied any call records to the NSA. If it had, perhaps the retraction would already be in print. Link
We have to stop these assholes! Please help! (see the following links)
http://www.freepress.net/
http://www.savetheinternet.com
http://civic.moveon.org/....
If we lose this battle, you can forget the elections - they just won't matter anymore.
A great hearty thanks to all of you who help!