Heads Up! The FCC And The Internet Revolution

From the good folks at FreePress.Net how the Bushies are about to sell the public airwaves and what people should know:

The FCC is on the verge of turning over a large chunk of the public airwaves to the same giant phone and cable companies that control high-speed Internet access for more than 96 percent of connected American homes.

This public "spectrum" could revolutionize the Internet in America. Its wireless signal passes through concrete buildings and over mountains; it can connect tens of million of Americans who are being passed over by Internet providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.

Don't let the FCC give away our wireless Internet to these price-gouging giants. The FCC deadline is fast approaching. Act now:

Tell the FCC: Use Our Airwaves for the Public Good

Broadcast television channels will soon vacate these airwaves when they go digital by 2009. If used right, these public airways will revolutionize the ways we connect to laptops, cell phones, PDAs, music players and other mobile Internet devices. They can deliver an open Internet into your house without the need for a telephone wire or cable modem.

Phone and cable lobbyists are pressuring the FCC to sell companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast our airwaves so they can horde spectrum and stifle competitive and cheaper alternatives to their established networks.

This would be a disaster. After years of phone and cable company control over Internet access, the United States has fallen to 16th in the world in high-speed Internet rankings, with few choices and some of the highest prices for the slowest speeds in the world. We will continue this decline as long as we let AT&T, Verizon and Comcast dictate the terms of Internet access for the majority of Americans.

These phone and cable giants refuse to open their networks to competitive applications and services. They lobby Washington to stifle new innovations like Internet phone service and to destroy Net Neutrality, the one principle that protects equal opportunity and free choice on the Web.

We need to end their stranglehold and demand a better Internet for everyone:

Tell the FCC: Keep the New Internet Open to All

Real, Live, Person-Drive Radio: Go For It!

I'm passing this along because I am a major proponent of this (and frankly, I'm considering doing this on my own, both over the airwaves along with simultaneous Webcast - and yes, I promise NOT to sing).

Have you ever dreamed of running your own radio
station? Here's the chance to make it happen.

The Federal Communications Commission is about to open up the public
airwaves to local communities. The federal agency will open a brief window in
October for issuing full-power, noncommercial radio licenses.

Now may be the last chance for you or your community group to secure a
license. But you have to be ready, organized and committed:
Visit GetRadio.org to Learn More

Free Press is working in partnership with Prometheus Radio
Project, the Future of Music Coalition, and the Radio for People
Coalition to help communities across the country set up their own local,
noncommercial stations.

Here's what you need to do to secure a spot on the dial:

Visit our Web site at www.GetRadio.org

Enter your ZIP code in the "frequency finder" to see if space on the dial
is available near you Answer the GetRadio questionnaire to see if you're
eligible to apply.

This opportunity may be our last chance to reclaim a segment of
the radio spectrum for the public. Over the past several decades, local
radio stations have been bought up and consolidated under a handful of large
commercial conglomerates. The result has been lousy, cookie-cutter formats
that sound the same anywhere you go.