James Seng <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Geez, are you saying that we as Netcitizen have totally lost our
> ability to influence the direction of how things is going to be in
> future despite that these are the people who is going to CONTROL the
> net (and horrible as it sound, some of us live on the net like our
> second life).
> If the "Big Boys" are able to do what they like and we little guys
> have nothing, absolutely nothing we can do to prevent that from
> happening, I think we need a redefination of 'Democracy'.
It is as it was when the first Telecom Act was passed that first
regulated broadcasting. The large corporations were very organized,
and set aside their differences to form a united front. The USG and
FCC decided to rule mostly in the large corporations' favor, because
they were able to convince the USG and FCC that they would operate in
the public interest. There were activist groups around back then,
arguing for better public service, particularly access to the airwaves
for noncommercial, educational, and other non-large business
endeavors. However, they were far less organized, and often were in
dispute with one another. As a result the USG and FCC were far less
sympathetic to their concerns.
--gregbo
