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Richard Schickel (Director)
$26.99
By Jonathan Franzen
$14.00
$17
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White House / Pete Souza
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When Robert Gibbs left his White House post as the Obama administration’s chief communicator, he made some vague noises about his plans for the future beyond maintaining loose professional ties with his former boss. Now it looks as though he may join another powerful institution: Facebook.
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Flickr / kainet
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Congress asked the FCC to develop a national broadband plan, and the agency is running with it. Among the FCC’s just announced long-term goals: for every American to have access to affordable broadband, for at least 100 million Americans to have access to 100-mbps download speeds and for the U.S. to have the broadest and fastest wireless networks in the world.
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Flickr / Adam Pieniazek
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Thanks to the runaway success of the iPhone, AT&T has the largest wireless network in the country—and the lousiest. Fed-up subscribers, who pay the telco about $30 a month just for data (and another $40 or so for voice), are planning an assault this Friday called Operation Chokehold. (continued)
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The Federal Communications Commission has a long and disappointing history of generally failing to regulate ever-larger media and telecommunications companies, except, during fits of prudishness, in the area of so-called indecency. But the latest incarnation of the FCC is proving to be more of a consumer advocate than its predecessors. (continued)
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Russell Tice helped blow the whistle on Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program back in 2005, but the revelations don’t end there. On Wednesday’s “Countdown,” the former NSA analyst said the agency had “monitored all communications” and specifically targeted journalists.
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Flickr / Jeff Kubina
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It’s hard to get cell reception in an out-of-the-way place like Sedona, Ariz., but it helps if you sit on the Senate committee that oversees the telecommunications industry. The Washington Post has learned that AT&T and Verizon, both of which have lobbying ties to the McCain campaign, provided cell towers for the McCains’ ranch at no charge to the couple.
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blogspot.com
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After two months and 261 rounds of bidding, the FCC announced Tuesday that it has raised a total of $19.6 billion from the sale of the U.S. wireless spectrum. The revenue, slated to fund “public safety and digital television transition initiatives,” is nearly double what Congress had previously estimated for the publicly owned spectrum.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — It seems odd, but for John McCain it was a blessing to have the chance to bury questions about his dealings with lobbyists beneath an alleged sex scandal.
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supremecourtus.gov
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The Supreme Court rejected an appeal related to the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretap program on Tuesday, offering no explanation. The American Civil Liberties Union and others have had a hard time proving the plaintiffs were spied on because the evidence they need is considered a government secret.
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Under pressure from Congress, Verizon has provided some insight into the government’s domestic surveillance program. The telecommunications giant defended the legality of its actions, but admitted complying “as expeditiously as possible” when federal officials, without a subpoena, asked for telephone and Internet records.
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fcc.gov
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Jonathan Adelstein, one of five FCC commissioners, speaks with Truthdig about the battle to control America’s airwaves, the value of an open and fair Internet and his initial thoughts on the XM-Sirius merger.
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AT&T gave the National Security Agency open access to its customers’ phone calls and Web-surfing activities, according to a former AT&T employee cooperating in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s lawsuit against the company.
The full story and a public statement by the whistle-blower.
Posted on Apr 8, 2006
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From mundanesounds.com
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OK, OK, it’s not time to get hysterical yet. This one doesn’t look likely to pass, but…
Four senators have introduced a bill that would allow the NSA to eavesdrop, sans warrant, for up to 45 days. GOP Sen. Arlen Specter objected, saying the law would allow government to “do whatever the hell it wants.”
Oh. Right. What a departure that would be.
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Jeff Chester at The Nation has an eye-opening report on how big telcos are trying to transform the “free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.” | story
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Mary Altaffer / AP
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Rejoice! With bids coming in to wire New York’s subway stations, you’ll never have to miss a fascinating discussion about someone’s dinner plans, or their stomachache, or whatever else they choose to spew on their captive audiences. | story
Posted on Jan 18, 2006
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John Thys / AFP
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The British prime minister is planning on scrapping a 40-year ban on tapping MPs’ telephones. The soon-to-be tapped are jolly cross. | story
Posted on Jan 16, 2006
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