Subscribe[Update: 5:13pm Friday: I hoped to have this up Thursday night, but wanted to add additional links to the article to be certain people can verify the information contained within it. It's on a final proofread right now and will be posted within the next two hours.]
Over the past week, I have been involved in some in-depth research on a matter that concerns me greatly — the special interest astroturfing problem. An article that normally would have taken less than a day to write has now run close to a week, just because under every rock there is yet another special interest group, telecommunications company, or hired gun lobbyist working for what should be legitimate public interest groups. What is even more disturbing is the apparent influence some of these groups, with yet undisclosed telecommunications company connections, have on public broadband policy, because government agencies and our elected officials do not realize they are taking input from industry-connected front groups.
The stage is being set once again this year for a public debate on issues like the National Broadband Plan, Net Neutrality, and our own battle against Internet Overcharging schemes. Before this battle goes too far, some of the opponents working against consumer interests need to be revealed. Therefore, a very lengthy special report is forthcoming shortly that will be required reading for any visitor to this site, so you fully comprehend what is taking place, and are well prepared to engage these groups. We’ve already tangled with some of the astroturf groups who’ve debated us, and we’ve done so successfully. Soon, there will be many more. When fighting for an honest National Broadband Plan, Net Neutrality, and no Internet Overcharging schemes, this is your chance to call out the cozy little astroturfing game that has been used successfully in the past to fool legislators into believing they are doing the right thing by us, actual consumers.
I hope to wrap up work on the piece by later tonight, assuming I don’t encounter even more entanglements along the way. This is why coverage this week has been more sparse than usual. Hopefully after publication, you will understand why.
Other stories of interest:
- More Paranoia About Net Neutrality Attempts to Scare Conservatives
- From the Waterlogged Desk of Me
- FCC Underwhelmed By National Broadband Plan Comments: “Sloppy” and “Lack Seriousness”
- Coalition of the ‘Willing to Cap’ Complains About Monopolistic Behavior by Big Phone Companies
- Astroturf Thursday: Group Releases Report Saying Consumers Would Pay More For Broadband
Keep picking them out Phil! I’ll be sure to read this article once it;’s up
I wouldn’t be surprised if you found out more legislators were behind many of the problems trying to be fixed by doing things the Ty Harrell way, and let companies, their subsidiaries, or otherwise partners write the laws themselves in favor of the company over consumer rights.
Thanks for the next update. Hopefully Verizon doesn’t have any more network issues in New York City (they had an outage just a little while ago. Took out routing to most of the sites except for oddly enough, some Microsoft sites as well as DSL Reports) so that I can read this without needing a proxy.