On Monday, May 5 at 11 am ET we will discuss the FCC’s plan to eliminate net neutrality on May 15. FCC chair Tom Wheeler will be deciding on new rules regarding the internet that will allow those who have wealth to have faster service and will leave the rest of us behind with internet service that ranks us between 35th and 40th in the world. The internet will become a pay-to-play entity rather than being treated as a public good – something to which all people should have the same standard of access. We will discuss the upcoming decision at length and what people are doing to stop it. And we will discuss the growing movement to municipalize internet service.
Listen here:
Urgent – All In To Save Internet Freedom with Mary Alice Crim and Christopher Mitchell by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud
Relevant articles and websites:
Internet for the Wealthy on the Way Unless We Stop It by Kevin Zeese
Will New FCC Internet Regulations Strengthen Monopoly Control by Paul Jay
If We Act Now, We Can Stop The FCC’s Horrific Proposal to End Net Neutrality By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
We Know How to Save the Internet: Towns and Cities Across America are doing It by David Morris
Save the Internet by Free Press
Guests:
Mary Alice Crim develops, plans and runs Free Press events, including the National Conference for Media Reform. She is currently building Free Press’ member-engagement program. She also participates in and supports ongoing campaign and policy initiatives through outreach, organizing and public education activities. Mary Alice serves on the board of Northampton Community Television and earned bachelor’s degrees in media studies and Spanish from Southern Connecticut State University. mcrim@freepress.net
Christopher Mitchell is the Director of the Telecommunications as Commons Initiative.
Christopher’s work focuses on telecommunications — helping communities ensure the networks upon which they depend are accountable to the community. He is a leading national expert on community broadband networks and speaks at conferences across the United States on the subject, occasionally to directly debate opponents of public ownership.
He was honored as one of the 2012 Top 25 in Public Sector Technology by Government Technology, which honors the top “Doers, Drivers, and Dreamers” in the nation each year. That same year, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors named ILSR the Broadband Organization of the Year. In 2011, that organization also honored Mitchell for his policy work.
On a day-to-day basis, Mitchell runs MuniNetworks.org, the comprehensive online clearinghouse of information about community broadband. In April, 2012, he published three in-depth case studies of citywide publicly owned gigabit networks, called “Broadband at the Speed of Light.” In April 2011, Mitchell released the Community Broadband Map, a comprehensive map of community owned networks.
His Twitter identity is @communitynets
He earned a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Macalester College.
He is also a professional sports photographer, shooting regularly for the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers and other clients in Minnesota. He has also worked as a server administrator, web geek, and in automated quality assurance for software.
In case you are curious, Christopher and Stacy are not related.
He can be contacted at christopher@ilsr.org