Thank you, FCC?

I know, I'm just as confused about that title as you should be if you know how much I despise that waste of space FCC, but they've FINALLY done something right and listened to their own charter!

The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday he will recommend that the nation's largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet.

The potentially precedent-setting move stems from a complaint against Comcast Corp. that the company had blocked Internet traffic among users of a certain type of "file sharing" software that allows them to exchange large amounts of data.

I am genuinely shocked that the FCC had the balls to do their job in this situation, but perhaps this is a sign of better things to come?

This has been a longstanding argument of mine against both the FCC and the RIAA regarding downloads, privacy and the corporate douchebaggery that has retarded the growth of some technology (unless it is under the control of the RIAA of course), but this is quite possibly one of the bigger decisions to go "my" way!

This shall be a good day, I am certain of it :)

Dews Slow Monday...

Quite a lot going on in the world, as per its usual, but some truly disturbing news from Tibet as the protests against the Chinese government have spread to multiple provinces. Its looking more and more like China will be allowed to effectively exterminate any resistance in Tibet without any foreign journalists at this point as well:

In a sign that authorities were preparing for trouble, AP and other foreign journalists were ordered out of the Tibetan parts of Gansu and Qinghai provinces by police who told them it was for their safety."

Of course, any mention of any brutal tactics of the Chinese Government results in a site being banned in China, so hopefully we'll be added to that list soon enough.

This brutality that China has shown in dealing with dissent is really just amazing though in that nobody in the world stage feels like they can say a damn thing about it. Really sad stuff to see them commit what is essentially "cultural genocide" (to quote the Dalai Lama).

More strangeness out of Jersey as former Governor Jim Mcgreevey's driver has come forward with claims that "Dina Matos McGreevey (Wife of Jim) must have always known her husband was gay - because he was the other man in bed with them."

Hey, I mention it purely for the "wtf?" impact, not because I enjoy delving into the always strange sexual lives of politicians (in fact, I'm always reminded of the good Senator Pat Geary that was owned by the Corleone family in "The Godfather" when I think of politicians "other" lives).

Finally, the Supreme's (DC's version, not the Diana Ross kind) are about to take up a possible landmark type battle over DC's gun law, as well as possibly far reaching rules on "profanity" within media.

The case concerns a Federal Communications Commission policy that allows for
fines against broadcasters for so-called "fleeting expletives," one-time uses of
the F-word or its close cousins.

Fox Broadcasting Co., along with ABC, CBS and NBC, challenged the new policy after the commission said broadcasts of entertainment awards shows in 2002 and 2003 were indecent because of profanity uttered by Bono, Cher and Nicole Richie.

Should be an interesting story to follow, but I am not by any means the expert in this area (that would be our very own legal counsel Dewey, or "DC&H"), but will be interested nonetheless in how this all shapes up.

Speaking of Censorship.....

Jimmy Kimmel decided to help the FCC clean up televisions "potty humor". This bit is rather clever and funny. Enjoy.......

Media Consolidation

The FCC is going to try to relax rules preventing media consolidation again. If you live, or plan to live, Dews, in a big city, that means you can expect to read, watch, and listen to more Fox News than ever before! Yippee!

Seriously though, this is not good stuff. I always thought that the point of the media in a democracy was to get as many voices out there as possible to encourage the "marketplace of ideas." At least that's what I read in my first year Constitutional Law course in law school. The more voices, the more ideas, and the more informed the populace. Now we're heading for fewer voices, few ideas, and a less informed populace. If this isn't proof that the Republican Party wants you to be dumber, I don't know what is.