or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
May 13, 2006
Lockheed Martin Is A Coalition Of Concerned Citizens
What I most appreciate about this new astroturf group Hands Off the Internet is the shamelessness of their self-description:
Hands Off The Internet is a nationwide coalition of Internet users...
Sure, you bet. Though to be fair, of course, in a certain sense it is true AT&T, BellSouth, Alcatel and the National Association of Manufacturers are "a coalition of internet users."
Posted at May 13, 2006 08:46 AM | TrackBackWhat seems interesting indeed is that the take over of the internet by companies like AT&T and Verizon is very nicely timed with spying they are doing with the NSA. Their Astroturf is full of astromanure methinks. Perhaps we should see how their profits grow with this type of fertilizer. Perhaps it is more like hands off our profits since owners of websites will have to pay these guys blackmail money to keep the traffic from being diverted from their websites by companies like AT&T.
Posted by: rob payne at May 14, 2006 03:12 AMIt's not just AT&T, BellSouth, and Alcatel. Dig a little deeper. See that group called "NetCompetition.org"??? Look at their member list:
http://www.netcompetition.org/docs/about/#members
USTelecom, Cingular, Alltel, Sprint, Qwest, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and Verizon Wireless. They're all there, hiding behind a quiet little unassuming name.
As you say, it's despicable.
Posted by: Chris Savage at May 15, 2006 10:21 PMThey have already out done your satire. Watch the video here http://www.dontregulate.org/. The actors are the "big corporations" "the government" and then represent "the people" is the "Network administrators," which you will be surprised to learn is not also a big corporation but a single guy behind a desk. Oh and that guy has to pay so much for creating the next gen. internet.
Posted by: Andrew Barenberg at May 16, 2006 07:37 PM
