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“The Corporate Takeover of the Internet and How To Stop It” will be discussed by Asheville-based media reform activist Wally Bowen at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 10 at the Community Church of Chapel Hill, 106 Purefoy Road. The free talk is sponsored by Balance and Accuracy in Journalism.

Bowen is founder and executive director of the nonprofit Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN) and a nationally-known advocate for “net neutrality” and broadband deployment in rural and other underserved areas. Founded in 1995, MAIN is one of the nation’s oldest community-based Internet service providers.

Policymakers in Washington have been holding closed-door talks with the major cable and telephone companies, plus other corporate stakeholders such as Google, to codify new rules that could allow broadband providers to restructure the open Internet into high-performance channels for corporate clients, and slower-performing channels for individuals and small businesses.

“These closed-door talks and potential backroom deals to restructure the Internet are a complete reversal of the Obama administration’s campaign promise to preserve an open Internet,” said Bowen, who is part of the national Media and Democracy Coalition spearheading the public-interest push for net neutrality rules.

Concerned citizens have until midnight August 12 to file comments to the FCC on the future of the Internet.

Bowen will also discuss the origins of the open Internet and developments over the last decade that have brought the United States to this critical crossroads in determining the fate of the open Internet.

“In the 1990s, the Internet moved quickly from research universities and government institutes into mainstream American life, largely because of ‘common-carrier’ protections governing the nation’s telephone networks,” said Bowen.

In 2002, however, the FCC under former chairman Michael Powell surrendered its authority over cable broadband service – effectively removing common-carrier rules — in a controversial 3-2 partisan vote. After legal challenges concluded in 2005, a divided FCC went on to remove common-carrier rules on the telephone companies’ broadband service via digital-subscriber-lines (DSL).

Bowen called common-carriage “a centuries-old legal concept that prohibits a provider of public services, such as a ferry-boat operator, from picking winners and losers.” In the realm of communications, he added, the concept includes privacy and other consumer protections.

“The heart of common-carrier protection is non-discrimination, which means that a broadband provider cannot favor the traffic of Bank of America over the traffic of locally-owned banks in Chapel Hill,” said Bowen.

He said the FCC’s controversial 2002 surrender of authority over broadband also gave the cable and telephone broadband providers the power to pick winners and losers among innovations for the broadband-based Web.

“In 1959, a Texas cattle rancher by the name of Tom Carter patented a device that would allow a two-way radio to interconnect with his telephone back at the ranch house. But AT&T told Mr. Carter that he could not connect his device to the telephone network without AT&T’s permission,” said Bowen.

A legal battle ensued, ending finally in 1968 when the FCC ruled that devices such as the CarterFone were valuable innovations and could connect to the telephone network, provided they didn’t harm the network, Bowen said.

“The CarterFone rules gave us fax machines, answering machines, and dial-up modems for Internet access,” said Bowen. “But the FCC’s abdication of its authority over broadband in 2002 removed CarterFone protections for innovators. That’s one reason Apple had to cut an exclusive deal with AT&T to bring its iPhone to market,” said Bowen.

Bowen also called the recently-published National Broadband Plan an “historic window of opportunity” to restore the Internet to its original open standards. “If we fail to seize this moment,” said Bowen, “The Internet of the 21st century will become an online space of corporate-control, with limited freedom, privacy and innovation.”

For more information, or directions, please visit www.main.nc.us or call 919.542.2139. END

Join us tonight as we welcome the fella that calls himself Bobcat of Bobcat promotions, a recent South Carolina transplant who promises to bring some stunningly talented local artists in the crowded R&B and Hip Hop field. Chop Chop will put them on the hotseat with some hard hitting and humorous questions, as we continue to support local artists in Asheville.

More great soul an R&B, as we’re the ONLY source in the ‘Ville that represents this wonderful genre of music. Extended music sets from DJ Titan, commentary and Indie music news from our resident Starving Artist Jessica Hatter host of Impulse Audio heard each Thursday here on MAIN FM from 7 til 10 pm. A great night for great radio on Western North Carolinas true source for independent media, MAIN FM!

Tune in this Friday at 4:30 p.m. to hear host Keith Fisher and MAIN executive director Wally Bowen discuss yesterday’s stunning revelation that Google and Verizon are on the verge of cutting a deal that could spell the end of the Internet as we know it.

And hear why Wally believes that this breaking news story could backfire and open the door to a stunning public-interest victory on net neutrality.

These topics and more on “Media Reform and MAIN” each Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Listen to MAIN FM tonight as one of our newest shows “Impulse Audio” serves up more Indie/Alternative cuts from 7 til 10pm. Host Jessica Hatter will be playing underground and classic indie and alternative tracks that can’t be heard anywhere in Asheville….except MAIN FM that is! Call in ay 828-258-0085 for requests or just to welcome Jessica to the MAIN family. It’s “Impulse Audio”, tonight at 7pm on MAIN FM

The proposed deal between Google and Verizon is fueling a spike in public opinion favoring FCC action to restore its authority over broadband services as the midnight Aug. 12 comment deadline nears , said Wally Bowen, executive director of the nonprofit Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN).

“Big corporations cutting deals for preferential treatment from broadband providers is what the world will look like without net neutrality, and Google and Verizon have just given us a blinding glimpse of what will happen if the FCC and the Obama administration back off their commitment to net neutrality,” said Bowen.

The reported deal, Bowen said, is a roadmap for how Wal-Mart and Bank of America and other Fortune 500 companies will buy their way onto high-performance Internet channels, while the websites of grassroots groups and locally-owned businesses are relegated to second and third-class channels.

Bowen added that the revelation could spur the FCC to move forward with a September vote despite intense lobbying pressure to back down, but only if public opinion responds to this “object lesson” of a world without net neutrality.

The FCC began taking public comment in June on its proposal to restore protections to keep the Internet open for grassroots innovation and democratic communications. The deadline for initial comments was July 15.  The FCC is now taking “reply comments” through midnight August 12.

Bowen called the Google-Verizon revelation a great opportunity for concerned citizens to file additional comments encouraging the FCC to follow-through on a September vote to restore the agency’s authority over broadband services. END

A Note on Filing Your Reply Comments

Anyone is eligible to file a “reply comment” by the August 12 deadline, even if you filed initial comments for the July 15 deadline.

We now have a quicker and easier link for your comments (on the FCC filing webpage, just click on Proceeding Number 10-127 ). But first, a cautionary note:

Many citizens are submitting “cookie-cutter” filings that are simply cut-and-paste comments from a national organization. While these filings are better than no comments at all, they are considered a “weak signal” compared to comments that speak from your own experience.

The pending Google-Verizon deal is a perfect opening for reply comments, as it illustrates how unregulated broadband providers like Verizon will transform the Internet into a corporate media system more like cable TV, in which high-performance channels will be created for Fortune 500 companies, while individuals and small businesses will be redlined into low-rent Internet realms.

Moreover, if the FCC fails to reclaim its regulatory authority over broadband services, it will not have the power to implement policies to ensure affordable broadband access to underserved areas like western North Carolina.

Here are additional related talking points:

1. We need an FCC with strong enforcement authority to ensure broadband rules and protections for a fair and open Internet.

2. As we have seen on Wall Street and in the Gulf of Mexico, free markets do NOT work without fair, clear and enforceable rules.

3. We need a strong FCC to ensure the implementation of the National Broadband Plan (NBP), which Congress ordered the FCC to publish earlier this year.

4. The NBP includes strategies for solving the broadband crisis in rural and other underserved communities. With little or no authority over broadband, the FCC will be powerless to implement these strategies.

5. One of these strategies is support for community broadband networks. Tell the FCC that rural and underserved communities prefer self-reliance over dependency on absentee-owned networks, whose Wall Street business models do not work in these communities.

This is not a partisan issue!  Supporters of “net neutrality” include the Christian Coalition, National Religious Broadcasters, and Gunowners of America.

With a pass from corporate media, the cable and telephone companies have quietly consolidated their control over the Internet in recent years. How this happened is outlined in my column, “The Battle for Broadband.”

We can win this battle! The FCC has offered a modest proposal to restore its authority over broadband. A legal challenge by Comcast has cast doubt on this authority. (Imagine BP or Goldman Sachs suing to emasculate their federal watchdog agencies!)

The FCC must assemble a compelling public-comment record showing widespread support for open Internet rules and protections.

Without this support, it’s possible that the FCC – under ferocious attack by cable-telco lobbyists and “astro-turf” groups – could get cold feet and back away from this goal as the November elections approach.

But with your help, this is one battle against the big corporations we can win! Please file your comments by midnight August 12.  END

We’ve recovered from Bele Chere, quite the party here last week…tonight ANR welcomes local R&B singer/rapper Blaze III, with a live interview and tracks from his latest release…..local resident Ronn from the Vanderbilt Building with a response to the recent article in the Mountain Xpress about the removal of the benches used by the senior residents…..another House Rules segment, increasingly popular, and always unique presented by the one and only Lori Penny…..more gems form my right hand man, DJ Titan……we play the latest single from local hip hop prodigy City Boy…”You can Do It!!!”…….Jessica Hatter With Starving Artists recapping her debut on the air with her very own show “Impulse Audio” (Thurs. 7-10 pm). And of course sweet soul music and R&B, with a look at some of the singing groups of days gone by! It’s a full slate, it’s gonna be great…with your ring master and host Chop Chop on MAIN FM!

Tune in to Media Reform and MAIN at 4:30 with MAIN executive director Wally Bowen and host Chop Fisher. Today, we will discuss Mr. Bowen’s Mountain Express commentary on how the local government is falling short in supporting public access, the media’s role in the whole Shirley Sherrod affair, and get updates on the ongoing fight to save our broadband and internet rights from the major carriers and government opposition. Join us today and every Friday for Media Reform and MAIN with MAIN executive director Wally Bowen on MAIN-FM.