skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Net Neutrality and Occupy Wall Street – Making A Connection

play audio
Play

Tuesday, November 8, 2011   

CHICAGO - The U.S. Senate may vote this week on overturning Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules aimed at guaranteeing an open Internet, whereby corporations were forbidden to give some people better access to the Web than others. And the fate of the so-called "net neutrality" rules could affect future protests like Occupy Wall Street.

At Occupy Chicago, communications volunteers count more than 33,000 Facebook "likes," 20,000 Twitter followers, and several thousand website hits every day.

So, some are asking, what would happen if the corporate entities that are the targets of protests were able to limit Internet traffic? That was tried at one point by the Egyptian government during the Arab Spring protests, and Betty Yu with the Center for Media Justice says it's a legitimate concern.

"A lot of this organizing that happened - sure, it was organic - but it would not be able to happen the way it happened, the way it flourished, if there wasn't an open Internet, period."

Opponents of net neutrality rules say they're not necessary and stifle business growth. Yu says the consolidation of wireless phone companies - like the proposed AT&T and T-Mobile merger - could also lead to a situation where the companies - or the government - could hamper Twitter communications.

Andrew Smith volunteers in the communications area of Occupy Chicago, where he says social media are used not only to mobilize demonstrators, but to make sure mainstream media report accurately on the protest.

"If false information is reported, then we can be like, 'Whoa, no; this is what really happened and here's why.' And using social networks to keep ourselves on message and to keep people informed is critical."

Betty Yu says the role of the Internet in organizing the "Occupy" protests makes the possible Senate showdown about net neutrality something to be watched closely.

"Big Brother is watching. And I think that it'll be interesting to see how the net neutrality fight plays out now."

Yu says mainstream media no longer determine how protests get covered.

"There are about close to 40,000 videos up online of the Occupy movement. That just goes to show you how these tools have really democratized the process of capturing protests, capturing democracy in action and being able to share it."

Some contemporary protestors use the chant of the 1968 anti-war protestors in Chicago, "The Whole World is Watching." It could have much wider meaning some four decades later.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021