Monthly Archives: September 2014

Support for Title II–the Only Sound Basis for Open Internet Rules

The following, along with  millions of commenters, have supported reclassifying broadband services under Title II in order to preserve net neutrality:
US President
Senators
  1. Ed Markey (MA)
  2. Barbara Boxer (CA)
  3. Bernie Sanders (VT)
  4. Charles Schumer (NY)
  5. Ron Wyden (OR)
  6. Richard Blumenthal (CT)
  7. Jeff Merkley (OR)
  8. Elizabeth Warren (MA)
  9. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)
  10. Ben Cardin (MD)
  11. Kristen Gillibrand (NY)
  12. Corey Booker (NJ)
  13. Al Franken (MN)
  14. Carl Levin (MI)
  15. Angus King (ME)
  16. Bill Nelson (urging consideration of Title II as a “sounder path”)
  17. Tom Udall
  18. Tammy Baldwin
  19. Jay Rockefeller

Members of the House

  1. Nancy Pelosi (CA)
  2. Keith Ellison (MN)
  3. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ)
  4. Earl Blumenauer (OR)
  5. Michael E. Capuano (MA)
  6. André D. Carson (IN)
  7. John Conyers, Jr. (MI)
  8. David N. Cicilline (RI)
  9. Peter De Fazio (OR)
  10. Donna F. Edwards (MD)
  11. Sam Farr (CA)
  12. Alan Grayson (FL)
  13. Rush Holt (NJ)
  14. Mike Honda (CA)
  15. Jared Huffman (CA)
  16. Marcy Kaptur (OH)
  17. Barbara Lee (CA)
  18. John Lewis (GA)
  19. Zoe Lofgren (CA)
  20. Alan Lowenthal (CA)
  21. Betty McCollum (MD)
  22. Jim McDermott (WA)
  23. Jim McGovern (MA)
  24. Jerrold Nadler (NY)
  25. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)
  26. Beto O’Rourke (TX)
  27. Mark Pocan (WI)
  28. Charles B. Rangel (NY)
  29. Tim Ryan (OH)
  30. John Sarbanes (MD)
  31. Jan Schakowsky (IL)
  32. Bobby Scott (VA)
  33. José E. Serrano (NY)
  34. Carol Shea-Porter (NH)
  35. Mark Takano (CA)
  36. John F. Tierney (MA)
  37. Pete Visclosky (IN)
  38. Michel Michaud (ME)
  39. Anna Eshoo (CA)
  40. Carolyn Maloney (NY)
  41. Mike Doyle (PA)
  42. Adam Schiff (CA)
  43. Suzanne Bonamici (OR)
  44. Dave Loebsack (IA)
  45. Chellie Pingree (ME)
  46. Louise Slaughter (NY)
  47. Niki Tsongas (MA)
  48. Peter Welch (VT)

Mayors and States, etc.

  1. Mayor Bill De Blasio (NYC)
  2. Mayor Edwin Lee (SF)
  3. Mayor Charlie Hales (Portland)
  4. State Library of Kansas
  5. Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable

Tech Companies & Startups Across Economy

  1. Netflix
  2. Automattic/WordPress.com
  3. Reddit
  4. Dwolla
  5. Meetup
  6. Kickstarter
  7. Etsy
  8. General Assembly
  9. Foursquare
  10. Gilt
  11. Spotify
  12. Upworthy
  13. Vimeo
  14. Cogent
  15. Opera Software ASA
  16. Codecademy
  17. CodeCombat
  18. Contextly
  19. OpenCurriculum
  20. Touchcast
  21. Heyzap
  22. VHX
  23. Pocket
  24. Warby Parker
  25. Mozilla
  26. Floor64/Techdirt.com
  27. Golden Frog
  28. Data Foundry
  29. ThoughtWorks
  30. MobileWorks
  31. LendUp
  32. Distinc.tt
  33. Twilio
  34. Badger Maps
  35. Linear Air
  36. Poll Everywhere
  37. Publitas.com
  38. RebelMouse
  39. Shapeways
  40. TerrAvion
  41. Rewheel
  42. Gandi
  43. Fandor
  44. Embedly
  45. Apportable

Telco and Cable Companies

  1. NTCA (rural telco association)
  2. COMPTEL
  3. Sunset (fiber provider)
  4. Sonic.net (fiber provider)

Trade Associations

  1. Ad Hoc Telecommunications Users Committee
  2. National Association of Realtors
  3. AARP
  4. CCIA
  5. Engine
  6. Writers Guild of America, West
  7. i2Coalition
  8. Internet Association

Investment Firms

  1. Y Combinator
  2. Union Square Ventures
  3. Trillium Asset Management
  4. Calvert Investments
  5. Arjuna Capital/Baldwin Brothers Inc.
  6. Zevin Asset Management
  7. First Affirmative Financial Network
  8. Clean Yield Asset Management
  9. Colorado Sustainable Financial Planning
  10. Nathan Cummings Foundation
  11. Park Foundation
  12. As You Sow Foundation

Public Interest Organizations

  1. Free Press
  2. Electronic Frontier Foundation
  3. Public Knowledge
  4. Fight for the Future
  5. Demand Progress
  6. National Hispanic Media Coalition
  7. Open MIC
  8. New America Foundation Open Technology Institute
  9. MoveOn
  10. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
  11. Access
  12. Consumers Union
  13. Common Cause
  14. CREDO
  15. ColorofChange
  16. Center for Media Justice
  17. Future of Music Coalition
  18. Benton Foundation
  19. Voices for Internet Freedom
  20. AimHigh LA
  21. Appalshop
  22. Art Is Change
  23. Chicago Media Action
  24. Clarisel Media
  25. Common Frequency
  26. Dignity and Power Now
  27. Easton Community Access Television
  28. Families For Freedom, Inc.
  29. Generation Justice
  30. Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)
  31. Iguana Films
  32. Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice
  33. Iraq Veterans Against the War
  34. Latino Rebels
  35. LatinoJustice PRLDEF
  36. Librotrificante Movement
  37. Line Break Media
  38. Main Street Project
  39. Martinez Street Women’s Center
  40. May First/People Link
  41. Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net)
  42. Media Alliance
  43. Media Literacy Project
  44. Media Mobilizing Project
  45. Message Media Education
  46.  Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF)
  47. MujerLatinaToday.com
  48. National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ)
  49. National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP)
  50. National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low-income clients
  51. National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP)
  52. National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
  53. News Taco
  54. Organizing Apprenticeship Project
  55. Paper Tiger TV
  56. Presente.org
  57. Radio Bilingüe 45. Ruth Livier
  58. St. Paul Neighborhood Network
  59. The Greenlining Institute
  60. The People’s Press Project
  61. TURN (The Utility Reform Network)
  62. Women In Media & News (WIMN)
  63. Women, Action & the Media
  64. Working Films
  65. Working Narratives
  66. Young Women United
  67. Center for Rural Strategies | Whitesburg, KY
  68. Access Humboldt, Eureka, California
  69. Access Sonoma Broadband, Cazadero, CaliforniaRURAL
  70. Akaku Maui Community Media, Kahului, Hawai’i
  71. Anne Braden: Southern Patriot Project, Whitesburg, KY
  72. Appalachian Citizens Law Center, Whitesburg, Kentucky
  73. Appalshop, Whitesburg, Kentucky
  74. A Prairie Populist, Minnesota
  75. Athens Area Council for the Arts, Athens, Tennessee
  76. Bluegrass Rural, Melber, Kentucky
  77. California Center for Rural Policy, Arcata, California
  78. The Canadian Record, Canadian, Texas
  79. Central Appalachia Regional Network
  80. The Central Collective, Knoxville, Tennessee
  81. Coal River Mountain Watch, Naoma, West Virginia
  82. Gourd & Associates, Park Hill, Oklahoma
  83. Grassroots Foundation, Joes, Colorado
  84. Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, North Carolina
  85. Independent Living Resources, Richland Center, Wisconsin
  86. Institute for Agriculture Trade and Policy, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  87. Institute for Local Self Reliance, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  88. June Appal Recordings, Whitesburg, Kentucky
  89. K12 Handhelds, Inc., Portal, Arizona
  90. Living Independence Network Corporation, Boise, Idaho
  91. Media Literacy Project, Albuquerque, New Mexico
  92. Missouri Farmers Union, Langdon, Missouri
  93. National Network of Forest Practitioners, Athens, Ohio
  94. Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Huntington, West Virginia
  95. The People’s Press Project, Moorhead, Minnesota
  96. Progress Lakeshore, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
  97. Public Relations Association of Louisiana, Shreveport, Louisiana
  98. Public Relations Society of America, Shreveport, Louisiana
  99. REACH Healthcare Foundation, Merriam, Kansas
  100. Redwood Alliance, Arcata, California
  101. Rural Broadband Policy Group, Whitesburg, Kentucky
  102. Rural LISC, Washington, DC
  103. Root Deeper Marketing, Athens, Ohio
  104. Shawn Poynter Photography, Knoxville, Tennessee
  105. Southern Idaho Rural Development, Shoshone, Idaho
  106. Summit City Lounge, Whitesburg, Kentucky
  107. Terzetto Creative, LLC, Huntington, West Virginia
  108. Tribal Digital Village Network, Pala, California
  109. The Utility Reform Network, San Francisco, California
  110. Virginia Rural Health Association, Blacksburg, Virginia
  111. Washington County Council of Governments, Calais, Maine
  112. The Watershed Center, Hayfokd, California
  113. WV Community Development Hub, Fairmont, West Virginia

Candidates

  1. Ro Khanna

The following would support the FCC if it pursued Title II.

  1. Senator Harry Reid (would “lead the fight” to defend “any” open Internet rules)
  2. Senator Jay Rockefeller (urging FCC to consider “all viable options”)
  3. Congressman Henry Waxman (proposing the “undisputed Title II” authority as a backstop); then coupled with 706 for substantive authority
  4. Yahoo (as a “last resort”)
  5. AOL  (as a “backstop”)

Leaked Nude Celebrity Photos Banned on Twitter #JenniferLawrence

The incident of celebrity photos being leaked on 4chan has everything to make it a fascinating law school exam question, a sociological novel, or a Supermarket tabloid–all wrapped in one. 

Let’s begin with the Supermarket tabloid

There are:

  1. Celebrities
  2. Naked celebrities
  3. Doing what normal people do (taking NSFW images with their iPhones), without their makeup etc.
  4. Hackers
  5. The underbelly of the Internet
  6. Bitcoin!! The new digital currency’s first celebrity scandal?
  7. Anticipation of new photos
  8. Law enforcement

And let’s turn to the sociological novel

  1.  Misogyny 
  2. Celebrity-obsession
  3. Insecurities about digital life
  4. Victorian sensibilities about sex (and women having it)
  5. The privacy standards we as a society should allow celebrities (or not)
  6. Blaming the victim (the women for taking photos)
  7. Hypocrisy (also blaming the women for taking photos)
  8. The role of companies like Apple in our lives (and their obligations)
  9. Cloud computing and privacy
  10. How being leaked without permission and forbidden to share make them either more or less appealing to people 

Then there’s the law school exam. We have interesting questions of:

  1. Speech versus privacy in the digital age (the right of some to share the photos and others not to have their photos shared).
  2. Speech versus privacy for public figures in the digital age.
  3. Speech versus civility/harassment online, particularly towards women (see Without My Consent).
  4. Speech versus degradation of women (remember the debates typified in the Hudnut case).
  5. Private speech power: what principles should private speech platforms like Twitter and reddit adopt regarding speech, privacy, and civility, and when should they be liable for making the wrong call.
  6. Whether these private speech platforms have too much or too little say regarding our speech and/or privacy today. 
  7. Whether the platforms should distinguish between sharing the photos for news value or prurient value. 

If you talk to lawyers at the web companies, they’ll be quick to say there are 10 other hard questions they have to answer every day; this is just the tip of the iceberg. I just published an article in the Harvard Law Review about free expression on Internet platforms like Twitter and I’m sometimes asked my thoughts when Twitter bans photos or videos (LA Times, Fox Business, etc.) Since Twitter is suspending accounts for sharing Jennifer Lawrence’s leaked stolen photos, I might get questions, but the questions (above) will be more interesting than the answers I’d give. 

And there are also security engineering and personal security-practices exams in here too, but I’m a lawyer and will leave that to technologists.