Pearl Jam, AT&T and Net Neutrality: A Teachable Moment

Update: Lessig comes out of "retirement" to make a statement and explain what's going on.
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First an update: This weekend, the LA Times reported that the censorship by AT&T of the webcast of Pearl Jam's performance at Lollapalooza wasn't a glitch or even a one-time mistake, as AT&T alternately claimed. It's a habit. Both the Flaming Lips and John Butler Trio have reported that their political speech was censored during AT&T Live Webcasts.

Matt Stoller has more at Open Left:

At YearlyKos, I met FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. He's an amazing man, but he told us something very disturbing. He thinks that the signs are out there that the FCC is getting ready to loosen media ownership rules against the will of the public. They have already done this with the internet, and Congress has not acted to remedy the problem.

A few days ago, the problem because crystal clear. AT&T censored political speech over streaming video by Pearl Jam at a concert. This was overt censorship of political speech. With the flurry of outrage, it's increasingly clear that corporate control over our media system is not only a huge problem but a well-understood problem by the public. AT&T is trying to pass this off as a simple mistake, though there's no particular reason to trust what the company has to say, and Wired is reporting that the company may also have censored political speech by the Flaming Lips and the John Butler Trio. But whether this is a mistake or not is not really important. The question is whether there should be a gatekeeper in front of what we have the right to say. And the answer to that question is obviously no.

I don't think Stoller is right to say that the problem of corporate control over our media is a well understood problem by the public. I think people have a sense that the media today sucks, and consolidation is bad, but when it comes to something more abstract like Net Neutrality, or the full consequences of greater corporate control of the media, I'm guessing that 99% of the public either don't understand the extent problem or aren't even aware of the problem. In regards to young people, the question actually came up during the technology and politics panel at Yearly Kos, and I'll repeat what I said then: This issue doesn't even register among most young people.

What I think we have with this Pearly Jam incident (and more so now that other bands are reporting similar incidents) is a teaching moment - an opportunity for media activists and youth organizers to really educate their members about the problem.

To that end I would suggest that most youth organizations seize that opportunity. More after the jump.

Here are some resources:

• What is Net Neutrality - Save the Internet's excellent primer on the issue.
• Have your members take action.
• Partner-up with groups like the Youth Media Council or Free Culture or sign up with Free Press.
• Check out the full text of FCC Commissioner Michael Copp's address to Yearly Kos
• A picture is worth a thousand words. Post the Pearl Jam video on your website, perhaps in conjunction with one of these videos (some more serious than others) explaining Net Neutrality: