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from: Technology Daily

Federal Judge Takes Hard Look At Telecom Mega-Mergers

By Drew Clark

(Monday, July 10) The long shadow of the Justice Department's prosecution of Microsoft could ensnare AT&T's efforts to acquire another Bell firm -- BellSouth -- as a federal judge late last week sought to aggressively investigate last year's telecommunications mega-mergers.

from: MSNBC

How Washington will shape the Internet
The Web was the Wild West — until the sheriff rode into town

By Michael Rogers
Columnist
Special to MSNBC

Updated: 11:21 a.m. ET July 11, 2006

The most potent force shaping the future of the Internet is neither Mountain View’s Googleplex nor the Microsoft campus in Redmond. It’s rather a small army of Gucci-shod lobbyists on Washington’s K Street and the powerful legislators whose favor they curry.

from: Multichannel News

Making Book on the Bells’ Promises
By Kent Gibbons, Executive Editor 7/10/2006

In a bid to influence the Telecom Act rewrites underway in Congress, author Bruce Kushnick made his latest “e-book” available to be downloaded for free the week of June 20.

from: Monterey County Weekly

Dialing for Dollars
Telecom industry pumps millions into AB 2987.

Jul 06, 2006
By Ryan Masters

On June 19, state Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez threw out the first pitch at a San Francisco Giants game in AT&T Park. In itself, it wouldn’t be a very newsworthy event—especially since the Democratic lawmaker from Los Angeles doesn’t have much of an arm. But many fear that his recent pitch to the Assembly on behalf of telecommunications giants AT&T and Verizon may be a strike against city governments and community media across California.

From: NY Times

June 30, 2006
USA Today Backs Off Report on Phone Records

By MATT RICHTEL
In a note to readers today, USA Today backed off an earlier assertion that BellSouth and Verizon had contracted to provide telephone calling records to the National Security Agency.

The note referred to an article published May 11 that said those two companies and AT&T had provided calling records to the security agency, without warrants, for a database it was compiling to detect terrorist activity.

from: Tom Paine

Cable Without Complaint?

Is there one person in this country who’s happy with their cable TV service provider? Cable television companies have long resembled the old Lily Tomlin skit from Saturday Night Live: “We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company.”

$200 Billion Broadband Scandal is NOW a free download for
ONE WEEK ONLY starting TUESDAY, June 20th. 2006

http://www.teletruth.org/docs/BROADBANDSCANDAL.pdf

Senate Should Stop and Investigate Verizon, AT&T, BellSouth and Qwest’s Broadband and Internet Control and Deployments. – FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL.

Long Story Short: The 2006 Rewrite of U.S. Communications Policy

By Lauren-Glenn Davitian,
Center for Media & Democracy (VT)
davitian@cctv.org

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a National Video Franchising bill on June 8th 2006. This bill, known as COPE—the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006 (H5252)—permits the telephone companies to get quickly into the cable TV business by sidestepping local government approval (franchises) in favor of national service approval from the FCC. The Senate will by Senator Ted Stevens – R/ Alaska, raises many of the same public interest concerns in COPE. By moving into the video business the phone companies will control both access to networks and content, much like the cable companies do today. If allowed to do so under the conditions proposed in these bills, there are serious questions about the future of open networks and prospects for real competition on the Internet (a/k/a net neutrality). Other areas of concern include: local management of the public rights of way, the redlining low income and rural communities and long term protections for public, educational and government access media.

We revisit this story because it's worth remembering as the Senate vote looms. The Telcos have already received 200 Billion in subsidies and tax abatements and have failed to deliver the promised services. Now they want further deregulation that will effect how we receive information via the internet and television.

Additional stories:
“The $200 Billion Broadband Scandal.” — AKA Where’s the 45MB/s I Already Paid for!

from: Seattle Stranger

Net Loss
The Fight for "Net Neutrality" May Be Undone by Local Consultant

BY JOSH FEIT

The fate of the internet may very well be decided in Seattle. And it's not because of this city's renowned pool of high-tech talent. It's because two of the central players in a heated federal debate about the rules of engagement on the net—a debate that erupted on the floor of the U.S. House last week—hail from here.