Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Al Franken: ‘They're coming after the Internet’ - Mike Zapler - POLITICO.com

Al Franken: ‘They're coming after the Internet’ - Mike Zapler - POLITICO.com:
"AUSTIN, Texas — Sen. Al Franken claimed Monday that big corporations are 'hoping to destroy' the Internet and issued a call to arms to several hundred tech-savvy South by Southwest attendees to preserve net neutrality.

'I came here to warn you, the party may be over,' Franken said. 'They're coming after the Internet hoping to destroy the very thing that makes it such an important [medium] for independent artists and entrepreneurs: its openness and freedom.”"

3 comments:

  1. Wow this is somewhat intense. I mean it seems from what we have discussed in class the internet has only helped independent artists and entrepreneurs get their work and ideas out. I would love to hear what he said to support such an absurd argument.

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  2. Hey Frank--I don't quite follow you (could be my head cold is clouding my thinking). Al Franken is speaking in opposition to the effort of telecoms to enact measures that let companies pay for faster speeds on the internet. The idea would be that a big company could pay so that access to its data, services would be faster than everyone else's is. It's material would go to the front of the line, so to speak, like a kind of executive privilege.

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  3. Looks like I may have misunderstood the excerpt. My mistake. Thanks for clarifying it though.

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