[Seattle-editorial] FEATURE PROPOSAL: Digital Democracy

[jonathan lawson]

subtitle: DIGITAL DEMOCRACY
title: Free Speech and the Threat of Cable Monopolies

Freedom of speech doesn't mean much if forums for speech aren't free. As 
more Internet users switch from telephone modem access to cable broadband 
service, their open access is less protected by regulation, and more 
susceptible to centralized surveillance and control. In a <a 
href="http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/ACLUCableReport.html">recently 
released analysis</a>, the ACLU discusses how the government is failing to 
extend to the broadband Internet crucial regulatory protections that help 
keep today's Internet free and open to all. Unless the government changes 
course, the ACLU warns, a handful of large corporations will have both the 
incentive and the ability to interfere with the free flow of information 
across the network.

<p>The <a href="http://www.aclu-wa.org/">ACLU</a> and the Seattle IMC 
invite you to a  forum designed to educate media activists on how to 
maintain open access to the Internet against the threat of cable 
monopolies.  <b>The forum will be held Thurs. Aug. 1, 7:30pm at the IMC. 
</b> Presenters will include Jeff Chester of the DC-based <a 
href="http://www.democraticmedia.org">Center for Digital Democracy</a>, 
Barry Steinhardt of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project, and telecom 
consultant Andrew Afflerbach.

<p>Chester/Larson: <a 
href="http://www.thenation.com/docPrint.mhtml?i=special&s=olson20020722">A 
Twelve-Step Program for Media Democracy</a> | Chester: <a 
href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=12386">Media 
Democracy teach-in audio</a> | Chester: <a 
href="http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=14531">Shaping the 
Network Society audio</a>