THE INTERNET IS THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY IN THE 21ST CENTURY: WILL IT BE A FREEWAY OR TOLL ROAD
6pm Potluck, Refreshments
7pm Forum
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Moderator: Peter Franck, former President Pacifica Foundation, former Chair, National Lawyers Guild Committee on Democratic Communications: Our dilemma as media democrats: lobby like hell and try and save the internet as a free and open forum, or recognize the inevitable monopolization and concentrate on creating our own free media?
Tracy Rosenberg, Director of Media Alliance
Net Neutrality: What the FCC did & did not do, what is at stake, What can congress do, what can we do?
Find out what's happening in Alamedafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Michael Eisenmenger, Executive Director, Community Media Center of Marin:
Rolling your own: What are the Possibilities (Pirate Radio? Community Media? Low Power FM stations? Other possibilities?).
The consequences of a world without Net Neutrality would be devastating—innovation stifled, competition limited, and access to information restricted. Consumer choice and the free market would be sacrificed to the interest of a few corporations.
On the internet, consumers are in ultimate control—deciding between content, applications, and services available anywhere no matter who owns the network. There’s no middleman. Without Net Neutrality the internet will look more like cable television. Network owners will decide which channels, content, and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu.
The free and open internet brings with it the revolutionary possibility that any internet site could have the reach of a TV or radio station. The loss of net neutrality would end this unparalleled opportunity for freedom of expression.
The internet has always been driven by innovation. Websites and services succeed or fail on their own merits. Without Net Neutrality, decisions now made collectively by millions of users will be made in corporate boardrooms. The choice we face now is whether we can chose the content and services we want, or whether the broadband barons will choose for us. (Parking in the rear)
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