Subscribe
This man could be one of five helping to guide the future of your broadband service. Kyle McSlarrow is the head of the cable industry lobby.
Free Press, the pro-consumer advocacy group, spent $42,000 to alert the public the fix was in at the Federal Communications Commission.
The agency has been holding secret meetings with four (now five) contenders in the battle for consumer broadband reform: Verizon, AT&T, Google, and Skype. The Washington Post reports this morning the lack of cable industry participation we reported last night has apparently not been a problem after all. The cable industry lobbying group NCTA is also invited.
Consumers aren’t invited. Neither is the press.
Josh Silver from Free Press:
“It looks like yet another federal agency is catering to big business behind closed doors and ignoring the American public. It’s inexcusable that the FCC is brokering backroom deals with industry lobbyists, while pretending to run a transparent process. After the financial crisis and the oil spill, you would think the Obama administration would have learned a lesson. But we won’t stand by and watch the Internet go the way of Wall Street and the Gulf of Mexico.”
“Despite the chairman’s campaign to be transparent, it’s doing the same things as the previous administration,” added Silver.
A source at the meeting said the sides were far apart on the issues — telecommunications companies oppose Net Neutrality, content producers favor it. Telecom companies don’t want broadband oversight, some content producers do.
Other stories of interest:
- [Updated] Shades of Cheney: Secret FCC Meetings With AT&T, Verizon, Google and Skype Ignore Consumers
- Free Press Opposing Comcast-NBC Merger With Planned Ad Buy Noting Comcast’s “Worst Company in America” Award
- Congressman Massa Introduces Broadband Internet Fairness Act – Thanks Stop the Cap! and Free Press for Consumer Advocacy
- BREAKING NEWS: Rep. Eric Massa, Stop the Cap!, and Free Press Will Discuss the Broadband Internet Fairness Act
- The Series of Tubes Is Already Full/Full/Will Be Full Soon! Log Off… No, Too Late!
[...] of was one of the attendees at the gathering. That wasn’t enough, however. Free Press then dropped $42,000 on a single Washington Post ad (normally $122,000) chiding the FCC for including Internet [...]