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May 13, 2005
Opening Panel: Mark Cooper, Consumer Federation of America
Amy Goodman gets all the mics back up to the podium.
Mark Cooper says you can tell that he's supposed to do the analysis part, he hopes it won't be too much of a downer. He's going to focus on 4 simple reasons why the momentum of the media reform movement will reclaim the first amendment: law, history, technology economics. Law: there are four court cases: Prometheus rolled back media ownership loosening, Brand X, Broadcast Flag case just last week, Grokster case where court refused to shut down file sharing.
Law is in our history, free speech and fair use are ingrained in our DNA. The roads that Paul Revere traveled to say the British were coming were free to all under British Common Law. The new wireless provides the road for the blogs and websites of today. The airwaves belong to the public. Try as they might, they can't get rid of that.
At the end of the 19th century when the railroads and corps tried to shut down the means of communication, the people rose up, especially here in the Midwest.
What is really happening is the dramatic democratization of the means of communication in our society. These technologies have transformed consumers into producers. We are putting the mass in mass media for the first time in history. It is a revolution, and it won't be turned back.
Wireless and the community internet movement is a great example. It's a demonstration that the airwaves belong to the people and that it is a commons, where people are free to use it without restriction or license.
Whenever powerful interests loose their technological and economic edge, they turn to force. Exampled in thousands of lawsuits against filesharers without due process, how telcos are trying to shut down community wireless.
The big companies lost in court due to history and law. Now they will go to congress. That is our legislative agenda.
Why is he confident that we will succeed? You won't let them do that to us. In 1996 it was cable vs. broadcast, that is not the case today. Today the case is free speech and fair use. We will not let them do that.
There was no conference like this in 1995 when they were divvying up our media landscape. No bloggers, no meetups, no sense of outrage about the manipulation of the media and the masses. The Telecomm Act of 2006 will not be written behind closed doors. JFK said it way: the hottest places in hell will be reserved for those who remain neutral in the time of crisis. This is a time of moral crisis, brought on by the media's failure to provide their responsibility to this society.
This is a tough revolution and we will win. Using the tools of expression for involvement and participation to drive american democracy to a higher level.
Posted by paul at May 13, 2005 11:55 AM