It's official. The Federal Communications Commission delivered its order on Wednesday lowering the hammer on Comcast for derailing Internet users' Web access and then pretending that the cable giant was doing nothing wrong. The order, approved by a bipartisan FCC majority at the beginning of the month, demands that Comcast "must stop" its ongoing practice of blocking Internet content by year's Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

They tried to shut us out. Their flacks and shills tried to discredit us. Their media lapdogs tried to attack us. But nothing could prevent a people-powered movement from stopping one of Washington's most powerful corporations. Today the FCC delivered a technical knock-out to Comcast. In a landmark decision, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

Get ready for Round Two in the Internet's Battle Royale of 2008. At stake is whether we should allow a handful of giant corporations to close the Web for their own gain, or whether we should put in place baseline protections that will leave our Internet open to the millions of people who use it. Round One occurred late February at a public event in Boston, where Comcast deployed paid Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

For an excellent perspective on Net Neutrality, read Saturday's New York Times op-ed by OK Go guitarist Damian Kulash. OK Go Goes to WashingtonKulash, who recently spent time on the Hill with bandmate Andy Ross, explains the central conflict over an open or closed Internet. "At root there’s a pretty simple question," he writes. "How much control should network operators be allowed to have over Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

It's unusual for federal bureaucrats to achieve rock star status, but two commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission have amassed an enthusiastic fan base among the emerging "Open Internet" movement. For several years, Democratic Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps have stood up, spoke out and worked all the angles at the cavernous FCC in defense of an Internet that isTimothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

So much for a cheaper, faster and more open Internet? With news that AT&T and Verizon have just won the most significant chunks of available wireless spectrum, Americans face a future of more of the same: slower Internet speeds for prices that are far higher than what many people pay in Europe and Asia. The Home of the Internet? And without action to restore Net Neutrality protections, the Web Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is one shrewd operator. When it comes to media policy, this Bush-appointed bureaucrat will do whatever it takes to get it done his way. Unfortunately, Martin's way has nothing to do with his sworn duty to serve the public -- or pay attention to the facts. It's more about his unyielding drive to allow the nations most powerful companies media conglomerates -- including Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

USA Today joins the illustrious list of news organizations to be taken for a ride by Astroturf. In an article earlier this week, the paper's media beat reporter David Lieberman writes that the end of the Internet is nigh. It will start crashing down around us by the year 2010, he adds, citing a recent "study" by Nemertes Research. The Not-So-Real ThingThe reason for our demise? We dastardly Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

Comcast can't seem to get it straight. On the one hand, the cable giant blocks access to certain Web applications. On the other, Comcast executives extol the virtues of a "free market" to safeguard against any abuse of users' right to choose online. So which is it? What the cable giant really wants is to thwart any policies that would stop it from doing whatever it pleases. And at this moment Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is taking action against Comcast for illegally violating Net Neutrality, after a coalition of Net users and activists caught the cable giant blocking open access to the Internet. Martin told the Associated Press last night that Comcast had "arbitrarily" blocked Internet access and failed to disclose to consumers what it was doing. "We foundTimothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

Internet phenom OK Go swept through Washington earlier this week urging their fans and Congress to support Net Neutrality -- the longstanding principle that protects our ability to go where we want, watch what we like and connect to whomever we choose on the Internet. The band's success is a testament to an open Internet. OK Go was propelled to national fame via the popularity of their YouTube Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

Almost every great public initiative in America's history, the electrification of rural communities, the creation of the interstate highway system or the 60s-era mission to the moon, started with a powerful vision and the political leadership to get it done. We need both as we face a challenge to reawaken our democracy and drive economic growth in a world where America's greatest commodity is Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

Something may have been lost in this week's brief media frenzy over "seat-gate" -- the much discussed incident where Comcast hired people off the street to keep out the public from this Monday's FCC hearing in Boston. Comcast's Sleeper CellBut while Comcast's seat-warmers slept, a collection of Cambridge scholars, Internet advocates, industry leaders, engineers and policymakers nearly all agreedTimothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

During a Friday briefing in the chambers of the House Commerce Committee Tim Wu, Ben Scott, Marvin Ammori, Jef Pearlman and Markham Erickson laid out the central struggle in our campaign to save a free-flowing Internet. At stake is whether the Internet will be open, neutral and accessible to all or a closed network -- controlled by a handful of gatekeepers with monopoly tendencies. Neutrality vTimothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

Don't always believe the purveyors of conventional wisdom in Washington. Some of these DC pundits are so steeped in their own "knowledge" that they get stuck spinning their wheels when faced with evidence to the contrary. This was the case for a few of Washington's finest who recently hunkered down behind their laptops to convince the world that Net Neutrality was dead and gone. Greatly Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

You may have missed it in the fine print of your agreement. Phone companies like Verizon and AT&T reserve the right to block your free speech and terminate your cell phone services "without prior notice and for any reason or no reason." That's chilling enough, but here's the shocker. There are no laws that prevent these giant companies from censoring your speech on their networks. That's right -Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

We just released this game. As news of Murdoch’s Fox Business Network is making the rounds, we wanted to frame the issue as a problem of consolidation -- and do it in a way that's fun for all. The main point is this: When we let a few giant conglomerates control so many outlets, quality journalism turns into junk partisan media, and our democracy suffers. Hopefully, this will draw more Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

Originally published at Huffington Post Phone companies have opened a new front in their campaign against the free flow of information. This time they've found a powerful ally in the White House. AT&T and Verizon have already shown their disdain for free speech and Net Neutrality, and their eagerness to let government spies lurk on our phone calls. Now, their lobbyists have teamed with Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

Originally published at Huffington Post If you thought phone companies were simply supposed to get you connected, think again. Over the last week we learned that the nation's two largest telecommunications firms want to get into the business of censorship as well -- blocking the free flow of information over phones and the Internet. Verizon's notion of "progress" may not agree with your notion Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile

You may have missed it. A couple of weeks back, Washington Post senior business writer Steve Pearlstein took a shot at blog readers who support Net Neutrality -- calling them "economically illiterate." I fired off a letter expecting a circular filing -- but three weeks later ... = = = = = THE POINT OF NET NEUTRALITY Saturday, September 29, 2007; Page A17 In his Sept. 9 commentary "Whiny Timothy Karrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile