Bells Using Minority, Disabled Groups For Telecom Propaganda?( old news - 12:29PM Thursday Apr 05 2007) tags: business · Op/EdBruce Kushnick pens a piece for Nieman Watchdog exploring how AT&T and Verizon are manipulating public opinion by "co-opting" (read: paying) legitimate minority, disability, elderly and low-income groups into supporting positions that are frequently not in their members' best interests. This, of course, is in addition to their use of consumer groups they've made up completely, or think tanks they've paid to produce public relations disguised as objective economic analysis. Collectively, it creates a very loud "sound wall" of consumer support that actually doesn't exist. Example: The National Association For the Deaf (NAD) recently issued a press release praising the FCC's recent partisan vote on video franchise reform, proclaiming "it matters a lot that broadband networks and their new interactive applications are widely available everywhere in America." However, a primary goal of the telco's "franchise reform" lobbying push is to eliminate build out requirements, which increases their ROI, but ultimately means fewer people actually get service. The telecom primer on NAD's website was co-written by Verizon, and AT&T and Verizon are the top contributors (pdf) to the organization. A fair question to ask: Are such groups serving their members or their donors?
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 amungus
Premium
join:2004-11-26
America
clubs: | resistance is futile you will be assimilated.
all your base are belong to ma bell. | |
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odreian615
join:2006-01-18
Chicago, IL
 ·AT&T Midwest
| Re: resistance is futile in 2015 MA bell (ATT and Verizon)VS the new other equaly big MA cable (Comcast and TWC) while the CEO's of these megacorp drink 40K wine and smoke 2k cigar together serverd up by Google's CEO (waiter) think about taking turns on butt boy Yahoo's CEO in the bathroom meanwhile the average Joe and US GOV stands around waiting on a handouts just to give the crumbs they get to Walmart
I see the future | |
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Mchart
Super Joe
join:2004-01-21
Gurnee, IL
 ·RoadRunner Cable
·AT&T Yahoo
| Re: resistance is futile in 2015 said by odreian615  :MA bell (ATT and Verizon)VS the new other equaly big MA cable (Comcast and TWC) while the CEO's of these megacorp drink 40K wine and smoke 2k cigar together serverd up by Google's CEO (waiter) think about taking turns on butt boy Yahoo's CEO in the bathroom meanwhile the average Joe and US GOV stands around waiting on a handouts just to give the crumbs they get to Walmart I see the future Capitalism at its finest. | |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| Re: resistance is futile in 2015 said by Mchart :Capitalism at its finest. You would, of course, prefer the socialist model which has worked so well in bringing broadband Internet to the average Cuban?
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! | |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | Re: resistance is futile in 2015 Are these really our only two choices? AK-47 wielding socialism versus "f-em" capitalism? | |
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RR Conductor
Premium
join:2002-04-02
Redwood Valley, CA | There will come a day when all the models of men will cease to be, they're all flawed. | |
| bigjimc
join:2003-04-21
Middleboro, MA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Big Picture They are not serving the bigger constituency. They are serving the smaller good of those getting service from them.
A donation is only for those who reap the benefit.
In the long run it will be less beneficial to everyone. Not just the minority and disabled groups.
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Just my 2 cents...Flame Lightly... | |
| | dynodb
Premium,VIP
join:2004-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
| Re: Big Picture said by bigjimc :They are not serving the bigger constituency. They are serving the smaller good of those getting service from them. A donation is only for those who reap the benefit. In the long run it will be less beneficial to everyone. Not just the minority and disabled groups. Right- Loosening restrictions that inhibit competition for television service is such a blight on society 
We're not talking about taxpayer subsidies or other goverment handouts- this is simply about allowing a company to serve customers under a universal standard instead of having to negotiate (often unresonable) terms with every city government in the state.
If it's between letting a provider profitably offer service to 80% of city residents or 0% of residents because of heavy-handed regulation that makes investment too risky, I'll take the former. It's just television for cryin out loud. | |
| garmst
join:2000-09-17
New York, NY | Hooray for Statwide Franchises! I'm tired of small town politicians sticking their nose into the cable and communications business. ATT and VZ will end up serving ALL customers because THAT IS WHERE THE MONEY IS! | |
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ib50MbSoon
Formerly TwoKDialup
Premium
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI
| said by garmst :ATT and VZ will end up serving ALL customers because THAT IS WHERE THE MONEY IS! BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHA! HEHEHEHEHHEHEHHEHEHE! ROFLMAO! Somebody drop an anvil on my toe so I can stop laughing! (If that was a troll, ya got me!)
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Meet Bill and Karolyn at www.theslowskys.com | |
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RadioDoc
Sortofadog
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| All the real grass is dead Long Live Astroturf!
Hey, if it works for political parties (both sides) and huge tract-house building developers, why not for corporations?
Is anyone really that surprised? Some of these special interest groups (legit or otherwise) will take money to say just about anything you pay them to say. It's a growth industry.
Do anyone besides pundits really care? I'm not saying what's going on here is right, but how much political sway does the National Association For the Deaf really have?
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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upidstay
@bellsouth.net
| OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! This thread could get ugly quickly...
WITH THAT BEING SAID:
I can see "once meaninful organizations like the ACLU
and the NAACP with thier hand stuck out for hand outs.
And it is really too bad, many of those organizations
once stood for good principles but have turned to the
dark side in supporting socialist and ultra leftist
(though not exactly liberal) positions. In America it
really doesn't matter so much being conservative or
liberal as long as you legitamately care for your beliefs
or you are absolutely right about your beliefs. It is
sad that onced revered organizations that were nearly
respected as the Red Cross is now run by crooks and are
looked up with disdain similair to organizations like
NAMBLA. Even though these groups have sold out to the telecoms unfortunetly the ignorant masses and those who
will have no voice like the elderly and disabled will have
no choice to continue to support these frauds. | |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
 ·Sprint Broadband D..
| Re: OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! I could spend my whole day unpacking this post, answering the false, silly and inapplicable equivalences, the usual boilerplate rhetoric, and, of course, the gratuitous reference to NAMBLA, which should be considered a Godwin's Law violation.
But why bother? The above correspondent will only watch The Squawking Heads again, tonight, and simply reload his clip, so to speak.
My handle is Scheisskopf, not Sisyphus.
All that aside, if any non-profits are taking money to become astroturf orgs, they need a big spanking, by both their remaining ethical members and by any appropriate legal authority, if applicable.
I may be a big ol' liberal(and combatively proud of the fact...), but I ain't no rubberstamp. Any non-profit, no matter what their political stamp, crosses the line when they astroturf for large corporate concerns. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Non-Issue If members of these groups have a problem with their donors, they can always quit the group.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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upidstay
@bellsouth.net
| Re: Non-Issue That would be fine and dandy especially for those of us cabaple of that thing called rational thought. Unfortunely
it will be the ignorant/corrupt masses and those that cannot represent themselves like the elderly, homeless
and some disabled persons, that will either no voice at all
if they were to quit or stop supporting a group if it went
corrupt. So these would have to go along with the flow even
if they did not like it. As for the ignorant/corrupt/welfare mentality masses almost everyone knows these people can be controlled if you dangle a bit of
money in front of them and tell them what they WANT to hear. | |
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RideRed
Vista needs a popup blocker for Vista
Premium
join:2005-06-18
USA | They're already bribing politicians So this is just par for the course. | |
| karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
Nashua, NH
·Fairpoint Communic..
| The corruption of mankind The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew corrupt; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of themselves, and of one another. We are doomed to repeat history, as the megacorps have grown corrupt, and we are selling ourselves out into slavery. I fear that the US will not long be on this earth, though we have the weapons, and the power, we don't have the moral right to exist anymore. The only solution is to line up the capitalist pigs against the wall. Only then will we have the freedom to recover this nation.
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Stick it to the MAN. Support your local torrent sites. Proudly providing 100mb of upstream for all your TV, Movie, and MP3 needs. | |
| hoyleysox
join:2003-11-07
Long Beach, CA
·tw telecom
| Not too bad of an article by Kushnik He does have a point about astroturfing - it is deceptive. However, a lot of businesses are funding charity groups. They get a tax write-off for donating to a non-profit and they get to communicate their message.
However, I don't understand how rolling out FTTP and providing an alternative to cable and satellite is "not in their members' best interests". | |
| | dynodb
Premium,VIP
join:2004-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
| Re: Not too bad of an article by Kushnik said by hoyleysox :However, I don't understand how rolling out FTTP and providing an alternative to cable and satellite is "not in their members' best interests". You mean let companies provide a competitive service to a community without draconian regulations? Why you filthy Captialist! How dare you suggest that private industry be allowed to make a profit on a non-essential service without government micro-management! 
To answer your question- the state franchising laws encouraging competition probably is in the best interest of the groups in question. However, this is BBR where anyone who supports a position that favors a service provider- no matter what potential benefit there might be to customers- just has to be a bought and paid for shill or troll. That someone might just favor free enterprise doesn't register on the radar around here. | |
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Alex G Bell
join:2002-07-02
Boston, MA
| Sickening Especially when one considers that Verizon is one of the most disability-unfriendly companies in America to its employees who need handicapped accommodations. They nominate themselves for awards from these "public interest" groups as a smokescreen against their evil efforts.
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"Remember, Comrade, people who are willing to destroy an efficient telephone system may not be playing with a full deck." | |
| | | dynodb
Premium,VIP
join:2004-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
| Re: NAD not bought by telcos; that is pure BBR anti-telco BS Yeah, right- next you're going to tell us that Elvis is dead, that 9/11 was committed by Muslims, and the Earth isn't flat.
No one is interested in facts here, blasphemer of the official BBR scripture.  | |
| | Teletruth
join:2001-12-25
New York, NY
| Maybe you should actually visit their site... not only do they lobby for Verizon but they use a "primer" written by the Verizon foundation to make sure that the NAD and others get the topic right -- I mean in favor of the telco.--- B.
* National Association of the Deaf (NAD): Verizon's telecom and broadband primer.
How insidious does it get? Here's how these groups combine to do campaigns collectively. Verizon created "primer" for groups representing disabilities, deaf, blind, and others so that they can quote the phone companies' position correctly.
According to the National Association of The Deaf (NAD), The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), American Council of the Blind (ACB), National Association of the Deaf (NAD), Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH), TDI (formerly known as Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc.), and World Institute on Disability (WID), all use a 'Primer' on essential telecommunications and broadband issues. It is funded by the Verizon Foundation.
»www.nad.org/site/pp.asp?c=foINKQMBF&b=273994
"The Primer contains information that will help you to advocate effectively on Broadband, Peer to Peer Signing, Telecommunication Relay Services (TRS), Wireless, VOIP, Universal Service, and Unbundling.... This "Primer" is designed for advocates to use in working on these urgent issues. The NAD thanks the Verizon Foundation for its support in developing this Primer."
Also, their broadband report was created in conjunction with New Millennium Research Council, which is a 'project of Issue Dynamics', created to help create the aura of legitimate research.
"Broadband is very important for many Americans with disabilities. The case was made in a report, 'Broadband and Americans with Disabilities', that was issued by the National Association of the Deaf and, simultaneously, by the New Millennium Research Council." | |
| dynodb
Premium,VIP
join:2004-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
| Fewer with service is better than none. However, a primary goal of the telco's "franchise reform" lobbying push is to eliminate build out requirements, which increases their ROI, but ultimately means fewer people actually get service. Actually the opposite is likely true. With build-out requirements demanding 100% availability the financial disincentive to offer service is great enough that it's quite likely no one would get the service- especially with the extortion-like municipal shenanigans often played out by greedy city officials. | |
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jhboricua
ExMod 2000-01
join:2000-06-06
Minneapolis, MN
clubs: | Re: Fewer with service is better than none. As opposed to the empty unfulfilled deployment promises played out by the greedy Telco officials?
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idjk
@embarqhsd.net
| Bells Using Minority, Disabled Groups For Telecom Propagand I am seeing a lot of hate telco here,I'm soooo sure that no cable co. would ever do any of this stuff. Cable co's rolled out all there services to the burbs at day 1 and that everyone everywhere (in US) only has to ask and cable is at their door// course they call on their phone to request said cable. | |
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NAD not bought by telcos; that is pure BBR anti-telco BS
