Beyond School

…the USA is so free?

More from Save the Internet dot com (and watch the comments for the corporate lobbyists’ responses - they’re apparently paid to find posts like this, hit reply, and leave a tossed salad of obfuscations, red herrings, and straw men. Logic and debate teachers, help yourself to this real-world example.

I’d apologize about being political, but gee, doesn’t democracy sort of demand it? Anyway, my future as a teacher using web 2.0 sort of requires that web 2.0 stays around. Free citizen radio didn’t a century ago - and corporate history is trying to repeat itself.

Here’s the latest from Save the Internet:

Dear Clay,

Tell Congress: Stop the Gatekeepers

You’ve probably heard that Verizon censored text messages sent by the pro-choice group NARAL. They claim it was a glitch. And they feel really, really bad about it.

Sorry, Verizon. That’s not good enough. This is just the latest example in the long list of phone company efforts to block, filter or interfere with the free flow of information over 21st century communications networks.

Take Action: Protect Free Speech Everywhere!

In August, AT&T censored a live webcast of a Pearl Jam concert just as lead singer Eddie Vedder criticized President Bush. AT&T said it was a glitch.

Both Verizon and AT&T illegally handed over private customer phone records to the National Security Agency. The phone companies first denied it and then started a secret campaign with the White House to gain immunity from any lawsuits.

This pattern of abuse shows that powerful phone companies cannot be trusted to safeguard our basic freedoms. The democratic principles of free speech and open communication are too important to be entrusted to corporate gatekeepers. Whether it’s liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, pro-choice or pro-gun, the phone companies can’t pick and choose what messages get through.

Censorship by AT&T and Verizon shows us what we can expect in a future where these network gatekeepers gain control over the free flow of information. Congress must reaffirm its commitment to free speech on the Internet, on cell phones, on our airwaves — everywhere!

Tell Congress: Stop the Gatekeepers

We’ve had it with phony apologies from phone companies. Congress must act now to protect free speech and the free flow of information.

Thank you for all that you do,

Josh Silver
Executive Director
Free Press
www.freepress.net

1. Spread the word. Tell your friends about this important campaign.

2. Support our work by contributing to the Free Press Action Fund today.

3. See what people are saying about Verizon’s recent efforts to block text messaging at the Free Press Action Network and SavetheInternet.com.

4. Read about AT&T’s efforts to cover its tracks after blocking a Pearl Jam live concert webcast and the latest on the phone companies’ secret campaign to stay above the law.

Tell your friends about this campaign at: www.action.freepress.net/campaign/verizon/forward

If you received this message from a friend, you can click here to become a Free Press activist.

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[Update: Subscribe to del.icio.us "net neutrality" tag feed here.]

Democracy without energy is Tyranny Lite. The irony is, we can now vote with our voices with the most volume in history, while expending the least energy - a single mouse-click and a few paragraphs on a keyboard - but by and large, we don’t find the energy for even that.

The result? You get the Internet you deserve. This graphic (thanks to Good Magazine) says it all (click for larger image).

Need a primer on the Net Neutrality wars being waged as we speak? Four-Eyed Monsters (their YouTube Channel here - and give them a hand with their credit card debt by joining Spout.com/foureyedmonsters for free, which earns them one dollar per signup to defray that debt) give a great one here, in Humanity Lobotomy:

I posted Save the Internet’s mailer a couple days ago. Click here for a low-energy way to contact the FCC and your congressman (if you’re American - wouldn’t hurt for the world to weigh in as well).

Or don’t - and enjoy future telecom corporations’ exciting offer of access to 2,000 blogs for only $40/month!

Think this is a joke? Check out the devious corporate shill being paid to respond to posts like this. He left a comment on the afore-mentioned post. His comment linked back to a Net Neutrality attack site that looked like a blog - except, spinelessly but not surprisingly, it did not allow comments. One-way, internet-as-TV, corporate communication at its finest.

If you like this post, please spread it: (But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)

I’m passing this email from FreePress.net on to all of you in hopes you’ll do your little part to keep web 2.0 growing, instead of passively allow it to be crippled by the US telecommunications industry. Like public transportation’s murder by the auto industry in the first half of the 20th century, the telecommunications industry is trying to murder the future of free and sane access to information for good old capitalistic, big lobbying, politicians-in-the-pocket profit. Please spread the word and take a bit of action. FreePress does their part by making that action a click away for you. Here it is and thanks -

Dear Clay,

Tell the FCC: We Want Internet for Everyone

What if I told you we could use empty TV channels to connect millions of Americans to the Internet?

New technology would do just that. But the powerful TV broadcast lobby is standing in the way with a multimillion-dollar misinformation campaign.

The Federal Communications Commission is about to make a critical choice: support innovation or side with the broadcasters and let the United State slide further behind the rest of the world in Internet access.

Tell the FCC: Open the Internet for Everyone

The fight for universal Internet access is now being waged over “white spaces” — empty frequencies between television channels on the public airwaves. New devices can use these vacant airwaves to connect millions to the information superhighway, including many people still stuck on dial-up — or without any service at all.

Here’s the problem. The National Association of Broadcasters wants to keep white spaces for themselves. This week, they’re blitzing Washington with television ads and a swarm of lobbyists. They’re making outright false claims that any new devices will interfere with over-the-air TV broadcasts.

Their scare tactics are aimed at convincing the FCC and Congress to stifle new technologies that can revolutionize our airwaves. Unless we act now, the FCC could side with the broadcasters and deny us one of our last opportunities to deliver a better Internet to more people.

Take Action: Open White Spaces for Everyone

It’s a familiar story. Big media companies will use any means to squash new ideas that threaten their control. For too long, our policymakers put the narrow interests of a few conglomerates before innovation, competition and the public good.

Last year we sent 1.5 million letters to Congress and halted the phone and cable industry efforts to kill Net Neutrality. This year, we’re fighting to make the Internet available and affordable to everyone. Opening up white spaces is key to creating the healthy competition, consumer choices and technological innovation we need to provide an open Internet to all.

We can win this fight. Take action to open white spaces today.

Timothy Karr
Campaign Director
Free Press
www.freepress.net
www.savetheinternet.com

1. Learn more: Visit our “Save Our Spectrum” initiative to learn more about white spaces.

2. Report back: Did you take action on this issue? Join a conversation with other activists at the Free Press Action Network.

3. Become a Free Press Action Fund member: Our team in Washington needs your help to counter Big Media’s lobbyists. Your donation of $50 or more will make sure public interest advocates represent our views before the FCC and on Capitol Hill.

If you like this post, please spread it: (But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)

If you like this post, please spread it: (But don't tag it "education." That will bury it.)

1. emotional reactions being the substitute for thinking among those who can’t think [↩]

The only thing worth quitting is smoking. (I’m on day 4, by the way.) This project is not worth quitting. It’s growing in a really fun, easy, fascinating way.

Here’s an update about developments on the planning Ning (the “Global Cooling Collective,” which is again now open for easy membership or lurking), in our school in Seoul, and - thanks to two other people on this planet - oh, but I explain all that in this update from the Ning:

Just a quick update: one educator at an international school in Kazakhstan is getting active, and working his network in Bangladesh and Qatar to get active and make things happen as well. So we’ll see how that evolves. His name is Gary. Gary and I have emailed a good bit over the last week, and he’s serious about doing fun stuff for real-world change.

Chris in Honolulu and I skyped this morning, and he’s presenting the project on the community level at his private school, and as an activity club. He’s also got an IB Economics class interested in producing work for publication on the website. That class might be able to do some interesting collaboration with Mr. Ski’s AP Econ class here in Seoul, since Ski likes the idea of real-world project-based learning for his classrooms too.

So keep the faith, Seoul. There are a few movers and shakers out there starting to come to life like you have

Other news (local): we got the okay for the pro-level video camera for our documentary about this project (and about the psychology of schools).

We’re sort of competing to see who can get a response first from Al Gore.

We’re working on building the PCG website and blog (it’s on WordPress, with a static page as the home page, and the blog on a navbar link). 30 students contributing to the blog would be too unfocused. We’re working on a way to blog our progress in a more orderly way, but still inclusive of everyone.

There are now 35 students in our high school (total population: 235 or so) participating in two separate club blocks - one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday. Each block only meets once a week, for forty minutes, but we’re talking about voluntary weekend or after school meetings as well.

Despite our school’s “No Cell Phones” policy, in our club, we use them to call corporations, music club owners, and other contacts to request appointments and propose ideas.

We’ve started filming the documentary. It’s already interesting.

Finally, OUR NATURAL NETWORK IN SEOUL IS AMAZING. We have parents in the film industry, in the major corporations, in television, in universities, and more. Ideas are exploding about how to tap these community members to help us make this movement grow and spread.

And we’re only two weeks into the school year. We have about 30 weeks left before the Earth Day PGC Concert in April ‘08.

We will do it this year. Several bands are already saying they want to perform.

And we will do it better next year.

And our futures will be better for it.

Seoul members, so many of you are already inspiring. You’re outside of the school “box” and connecting to the real world for a real good cause.

You make life worth living.

Thanks for that.

Clay

P.S. The rest of you out there? Aren’t you the least bit interested in joining us? Hurry now, so you don’t hurry later

Photo on Flickr by snowriderguy

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