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FCC to Permit Complete Media/Telecom Consolidation
rhwalker22 writes "Today's Washington Post has a piece reviewing some of the major decisions the Federal Communications Commission will be making in the next few months, moves that could fundamentally rewrite the rules for the broadcast media and Internet service providers. Excerpt: 'Opponents of the proposed rules fear that, taken together, they ultimately could lead to a few powerful conglomerates controlling the flow of electronic information, from programming of television and radio news and entertainment to owning the pipes that connect people to the Internet.'"
You'll have to start making out your cheques to "AOL-TimeWarner-Disney-MGM-Universal, an Exxon Company"
Trolling is a art,
Yoda almost had it right
Fear leads to anger
Anger leads to hate
Hate
HallmarkOrnaments.Com
Somebody's gonna have to write Max Headroom under Linux now...who wants that project?
"As long as defiance continues, they can't claim victory." -Slashdot comment
Get in your shots now. In a few months, your service agreement will forbid such anti-corporate comments. And since they corporations work for the common good, that's reasonable. Now sit down, watch Rollerball, take your pills and stop idolizing Jonathan. Rollerball is not about individuals.
If it gets bad I can always use carrier pigeons to connect. So long as it isn't hunting season my packet loss should be acceptable.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
Opponents of the proposed rules fear that, taken together, they ultimately could lead to a few powerful conglomerates controlling the flow of electronic information, from programming of television and radio news and entertainment to owning the pipes that connect people to the Internet.
This is progress. Using economies of scale they would be able to construct truly awe-inspiring sets, and hire real life movie stars to deliver the news. No longer would I have to sit and watch unattractive boring people like Ted Koppel or that fat chick from CNN tell me about the war in Iraq or whatever. Where do I sign up!
i work for a *major* US telecom provider, and i must say this:
.. yes, there is a catch...
DON'T PANIC.
trust me on this one. yes, we do have plans to merge with at least three other companies, mostly medium-sized regional providers. what we haven't told you, however, is that this merge will allow us to provide high-end DSL service to residences across the country for less than $10 / mo.
we will be able to do this due to the fact that there will be no middle-man provider. there are also some amazing projects in the works regarding satellite and wireless data transmission. think: global wireless network, anywhere in the world, anyone in the world, no charge. the bandwidth will be limited to 19.2 bps initially, but the coverage will be absolutely ground-breaking.
what's in it for us?
At one hearing last summer, Hollings all but called Powell a shill for big business in general and the large regional telephone companies in particular.
So, if I got read this correctly, Fritz (Disney) Hollings is calling Powell a corporate whore?
Think For Yourself. Question Authority.
But they assured the audience that the changes were double-plus good.
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
before it gets better.
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
I for one welcome our new insect - er, media - overlords.
Why limit ourselves to only a few variants of democracy? There are plenty of other options. It's time to give honest plutocracy, argentocracy, timocracy, or even quangocracy a chance.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
DON'T PANIC
the one thing you can be sure you need to do forthwith is PANIC!!!!
No delays now. Start running down the streets screaming at the top of your lungs, rending your clothes and flinging yourself into plate glass windows. It's for your own good.
One day I will wake up and unable to open the electronically controlled front door to my condo I will have to call North East America Inc support center....
.....etc.... 99 if you cannot open your door.
... I am going to e-mail my Congressman about this...
me: dial
phone: Welcome to North East America Inc... your call is important to us... etc.. press 01 for support with your phone; 02 for support with cable; 03 for support with your internet; 04 for support with your climate control;
me: 99... wait...
phone: sir, your buildings central waste monitoring facility has detected trace amounts of marijuana. as you know drugs fund terrorism and terrorism is un-American. as a precaution we have temporarily detained all occupants pending an investigation
me: what!
phone: sir, the central e-mail monitoring facility has detected that your e-mails contain words like "high", "da bomb", and "explosive" and may refer to un-American activities and therefore your e-mail has been suspended...
me: nuts!, I am moving out west!
phone: sir, we have logged your request and are sending you a Western America Inc transfer form. There is a $20,000 transfer fee.
me: thats it I am moving to Canada!
phone: sir, only terrorists live in Canada... please stand by security services are on the way...we have restricted your TV to receive Lawyer commercials you may wish to watch while you wait... have a nice day.
You will have to pry my proprietary software $$$ from my cold dead hands!