"The Kevin Martin is a member of the bureaucratic weasel family that sneaks in to plunder the nest of net neutrality by night."
FreePress.net just sent through an action alert ( see text of alert at bottom of this post ) concerning the proposed $82 Billion ATT/BellSouth merger that could threaten Net Neutrality :
FCC chair Kevin Martin is trying to ram through a vote in favor of the merger - w/out safegaurds in place for net neutrality - by strongarming an FCC commissioner who'd recused himself from the vote on the merger for conflict of interest reasons.
Here's the FreePress skinny on the threat of the merger :
" The AT&T merger elevates the threat to Internet freedom. In interviews with the Financial Times, Washington Post and BusinessWeek, AT&T and BellSouth executives have outlined plans to erect new Internet toll booths and discriminate against Web content."
Here's more from FreePress/net on this :
"AT&T's $82 billion merger with BellSouth would create a network giant that controls nearly half of all telephone land lines in the United States.
But AT&T's reach wouldn't end there. Soon all electronic media -- telephone, TV, music and the Web -- will enter homes via a single broadband connection. The few corporations trying to control this "pipe" -- and the billions of dollars at stake -- are also seeking to dismantle Net Neutrality, the long standing principle that prevents phone companies from dictating what we watch, where we go and what we do online.
While commissioners at the FCC have made repeated attempts to negotiate this merger, they have thus far failed to reach a consensus on Net Neutrality. The merger will be negotiated further during the agency's December 20 meeting.
We must maintain pressure on the FCC to make Net Neutrality a permanent condition of the merger."
Action Page :
http://action.freepress.net//campaig...
Media on this :
John Nichols in The Nation : http://www.freepress.net/...
Josh Silver on the Huff Post : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The text of the ACTION ALERT from FreePress.net :
"The FCC is at it again, ignoring the public interest to give handouts to massive corporations. This time, Chairman Kevin Martin has thrown the FCC's ethics out the window to rush through the mega-merger of AT&T and BellSouth.
Martin is forcing one commissioner, Robert McDowell, to overlook a conflict of interest and rubber stamp the AT&T merger without safeguards for Net Neutrality -- the longstanding principle that prevents Internet providers from discriminating between Web sites.
This move could undermine basic freedoms for all Internet users. Together, we can stop Martin:
Chairman Martin is racing to deliver special favors to AT&T before the incoming Congress can provide oversight. Commissioner McDowell rightly "recused" his vote on the merger because he had prior business ties affected by the deal. That left the FCC in a 2-2 tie.
Rather than negotiate with commissioners in good faith, AT&T and Chairman Martin have resorted to strong-arm tactics to force McDowell to violate his ethical standards and vote for the merger.
Congress has begun to respond to Martin's outrageous behavior. Incoming House leaders John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Martin Tuesday demanding that the merger be handled "without compromising the ethical standards of the independent agency or the individual Commissioners involved."
This objection was echoed in the Senate by incoming Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye. He wrote to Martin: "I hope you will reconsider your decision to waive the ethical rules presently precluding Commissioner McDowell's participation and return to serious negotiations with your colleagues at the Commission. These rules and the rules of professional responsibility in general exist for a reason and should not be tossed away lightly."
We agree. To stop this unethical abuse of power, we need to make sure other members of Congress know about Martin's action and put a stop to it."
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