Category Archives: Open Internet

The Internet Belongs to Everyone

I’ve recently been exploring tools to help educate others about how the internet works and more generally promote digital media literacy. The ability for internet users to understand the tools that they use and develop their ability to contribute to the web by creating their own independent media is extremely important. Below is a little […]

FCC vs Net Neutrality (Part 2)

On May 15th FCC chairmann Tom Wheeler officially unveiled his new ‘net neutrality’ proposal and the commission voted on a partisan 3–2 line to move forward with the proposal kicking off a  three month public comment session before a final vote takes place (take action below). I recently wrote a very thorough rundown of the net […]

The FCC vs Net Neutrality

O n April 23rd the Wall Street Journal reported that the FCC was preparing to release new Open Internet (aka Net Neutrality) Rules that would allow for broadband providers to offer paid ‘fast lanes’. The leak of this information has lead to a media firestorm forcing FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has scrambled to clarify his […]

Citizens Take to the Streets in México to Fight for Internet Freedom

  Last week citizens across Mexico took to the streets to protest a recently proposed telecom law that would violate free speech, give the federal governemtn increased survelleicen powers, and limit internet access, among other issues. Please read my orignal post about the law and the problems it creates. My original post also has some […]

NetMundial2014 Opening Ceremony Photos

This morning I just had to get up early to catch the opening ceremony of the Net Mundial in São Paulo Brazil, and it didn’t disappoint. There were a number of great speakers from Vint Cerf, to Tim Berners-Lee, to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. However, I have to say that my favorite was definitely Nnenna […]

The Fight for Derechos Digitales & Internet Freedom in México

On March 24 2014 Mexico’s president Enrique Peña Nieto introduced the “Ley de Telecomunicaciones y Radiodifusión” (Law of Telecommincations and Broadcasting). This bill would dramatically change the balance of power of Mexico’s internet, and telecommunications, toward more state control, and less restraints on telecommunication corporations to censor, surveil, and discriminate on their networks. Specifically this bill would impact four major […]

A Municipal Broadband Network Right in my Backyard

T he gap between American’s that have broadband internet access and those that do not has become and increasing problem within the United States over the last several years. This “digital divide” has grown sharply as large monopolistic telecommunication companies have refused to build out there networks to poor or rural communities. There is currently a raging […]

Anil Dash, Race, and Privately Owned Public Spaces

Anil Dash recently gave a presentation at Harvard’s Berkman Center and I wanted briefly map out just a couple of my reactions to what he said. You can get some context and read all about the presentation here, there is a nice outline of the talk here, and you can read Anil’s bio here. I’ve […]

Good News, Bad News — Aereo and ReDigi

This past week saw two interesting and important court decisions come down, both relating to copyright in the digital space. One involving innovative ‘online broadcaster’, Aereo, brought goods news, while the other, involving digital music reseller ReDigi, brought some not so good news. Lets start with the good. Aereo Aereo is an interesting service which was […]

TDIF: Access

Previously in this series we discussed the issue of transparency in creating internet related policies as well as well as the threats to expression online. In this post we will address the second principle in the Declaration of Internet Freedom which reads, Access: Promote universal access to fast and affordable networks. Universal access is important because as […]