Is Google Joining AT&T to Shut Up the Little Guy?
Categories: Media
We're fascinated to see a Variety journalist pick up on our last week's cover story, "Shutting Up the Little Guy," as a cautionary tale about not just what AT&T, Fabian Nunez and the Los Angeles City Council are doing to decimate local public access TV, but what might happen if net neutrality -- letting little guys have the same fast access to the Internet as the rich guys -- is lost to lobbying and corporate greed.
As blogger and veteran entertainment editor and writer Ted Johnson writes, "Obama says he supports 'net neutrality,' but as we learned from 'public access,' that can take on many different meanings."
It certainly seems to be taking on a disturbing new meaning now that a big nationwide flap has erupted over whether Google is still championing equal access to the Internet. To be fair, it's not at all clear if Google really is being sly and sneaky like a typical ugly corporation, as the Wall Street Journal reported. But with public access cable getting stamped out, some of the parallels are becoming pretty disturbing.
Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
