Save Access

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MEDIA ADVISORY
Contacts: Lyell Davies (917) 701-9854
Michael Eisenmenger (646) 245-3491

National Day of Out(R)age Against the Phone Companies

On May 24th Major Cities Across the U.S. say --
“Hands off our Public Access, our Internet, and our Privacy”

New York—Wednesday, May 24th @ 12:30pm Verizon World Headquarters,
140 West Street (corner of Vesey Street)

On Wednesday May 24th concerned citizens, community advocates and media activists in cities across the United States will join together for a National Day of Out(R)age to protest the ‘million-dollar-a-week’ “deregulatory” efforts of the major telecommunications companies (AT&T, Verizon, Bell South and Qwest) to advance legislation in Congress that would rewrite U.S. telecommunications policy, negatively impacting millions of local communities, citizens, consumers and the city government.

Public events and demonstrations will be held throughout the day on May 24th in New York, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco to draw public attention to the phone companies multi-million dollar campaign to buy Congressional votes and public support for the “COPE Act” (HR 5252/ S 2686), legislation that seeks end local franchising by replacing it with national franchising. The phone/telecommunications companies are fast-tracking this legislation that would allow them to enter the video service market by eliminating local franchising, open access and public interest requirements.

If passed, the “COPE Act” will remove local authority of video franchises from cities and towns, allow the 'red-lining' of low income and rural communities, negatively impact local Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) Access channels, and jeopardize the openness of the internet by removing Net Neutrality provisions. The “COPE Act” (House Bill 5252) is slated for a vote by the House within the next week and Senate Bill version (S.2686) is scheduled for markup on June 20th.

The May 24th National Day of Out(R)age will also highlight the recent exposure of the privacy violation of millions of telephone users by AT&T, Bell South and Verizon who willingly handed over call records to the National Security Agency without proper legal warrants. “ AT&T and Verizon want to away with consumer protections and have even more access to homes throughout the country - and to your information – with their planned fiber networks for video and Internet services. This would provide far more capacity than the current copper wire connections - hence the slogan, 'your world delivered'” says Jeff Perlstein, of Media Alliance and organizer of the San Francisico protest.

The National Day of Out(R)age is organized by the Saveaccess.org, a national coalition of concerned citizens, media activists, community based organizations, members of Public Access media centers. Across the U.S., they are joined together to demand that the phone companies be accountable to local communities and to protect the future of telecommunications infrastructure to the public interest. Around the country dozens of local cities and towns are opposed to this legislation—including the National League of Cities, US Conference of Mayors, and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA).

In New York, the organizations involved in Wednesday’s actions include: Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), NYC Grassroots Media Coalition, Paper Tiger TV, NABET-CWA Local 11, National Mobilization Against SweatShops, Picture the Homeless, Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizations, Community Voices Heard, and Chinese Staff & Workers Association.