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New Documentary to Expose Media Consolidation and Government Collusion

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4 points by Chris_Dollar 15 years ago · 11 comments

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JTfor2032 15 years ago

There is no doubt that this is good cause. Yet, there is much to be pessimistic about it. First off, it will be excruciatingly difficult to produce a documentary of decent quality, comparable to ones such as "Inside Job", with only a budget of 150,000 USD. You definitely need to look to acquire a budget of at least 300,000 USD. Secondly, this documentary is extremely vulnerable to being thwarted by the "big six" media corporations. The only thing that stands in the way of corporations having complete power over the American people and their government is pro net-neutrality regulations. We will of course witness the perhaps the most determined onslaught on a small organization than we have ever seen taken by the corporations. Finally, creating and releasing a documentary presents the challenging fact that the current political situation concerning net neutrality changes at a rapid rate. A couple of examples would be how Obama campaigned on net neutrality, yet when he came into office his administration had corporations make a law that protected their interests over individual citizens. The other example is how Meredith Baker approved the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal and then resigned from the FCC to become the leading lobbyist for Comcast. This ever changing nature of net neutrality would make it necessary to release the documentary shortly after it has been filmed.

gman79 15 years ago

The internet must remain free and unrestricted by the ISP's. I dont want the governement to take the place of corporations in regulating the internet, but I would be fine with the governemnt passing laws ensuring that the interent remains open as it is now. This must be done so that no one group or company can "own" the internet and redesign it for their own benefit. I am a strong believer in capitalism and I believe it to be the most effective, however it isnt perfect. If the corporations are allowed to take over, their primary goal, no matter how damaging it is to society, will be to make money. nothing else is really important to companies.

  • Chris_DollarOP 15 years ago

    gman79 - couldn't have said it better myself.

    We must protect the Free and Open Internet at all costs.

benvanderbeek 15 years ago

I was somewhat concerned that this film would promote government enforcement of net neutrality. In an email conversation I had with him, the writer of this film compared Thomas Jefferson's view of the necessity of an affordable, reliable postal service with the current necessity for affordable, reliable internet access. That seemed like a pretty good point to this skeptic.

If you think this is a film worth making/seeing, send to a couple friends. Currently 93 backers, $14,999 pledged of $150,000 goal, 17 days to go.

  • Chris_DollarOP 15 years ago

    benvanderbeek: Thanks for the positive feedback. I agree that we have to be skeptical of an all powerful government state, it is just as dangerous as an all powerful corporate state.

    Preserving the decentralized integrity of the Internet, where no one government, corporation, or person "owns" the Internet... rather it is essentially owned by every one, whether you're Bill Gates or Ben Vanderbeek - everyone is equal in communication.

    Don't get me wrong I believe in a capitalism, within the constitutional framework of a democratic-republic... but our Freedom of Communication and 1st Amendment is too important to be put up for sale.

    Tim Wu's, "Master Switch" does a really good job explaining how communication mediums over the years have gone from Open to Closed. I encourage any one who is interested in the subjects of Communication Empires, Internet, and the democracy to get this book:)

    Here's a blog posting I recently wrote on savetheinternet.com

    I'd love to get your feedback on it: http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/11/06/14/killswitch-and-...

bmcarlisle 15 years ago

This is a movie that needs to be made. It is not going to get backing from traditional media, it needs a grassroots movement. Good Luck!

  • Chris_DollarOP 15 years ago

    Well said Bmcarlisle. I couldn't have said it better myself. I've been very happy with the support of the hackernews community. Out of all the venues I blog, I get the most support from you guys. I posted early this morning and had about 30 of you guys back my project. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

    If you haven't read my blog yet on savetheinternet.com check it out here:

    http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/11/06/14/killswitch-and-...

tmairey 15 years ago

Either (a) we crowd fund this great project and fight corporate greed together or (b) we individually bury our heads in the sand and say "goodnight" to our free internet! I'm going with option A!!!!

bgoad 15 years ago

Right on!

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