

New Documentary to Expose Media Consolidation and Government Collusion - Chris_Dollar
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akorn/killswitch-a-documentary-film?ref=live

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JTfor2032
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.

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gman79
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.

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Chris_Dollar
gman79 - couldn't have said it better myself.

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

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benvanderbeek
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.

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Chris_Dollar
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-...](http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/11/06/14/killswitch-and-battle-
over-internet)

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bmcarlisle
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!

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Chris_Dollar
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-...](http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/11/06/14/killswitch-and-battle-
over-internet)

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tmairey
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!!!!

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Chris_Dollar
I'm right with you on that one!

Thanks for the support.

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bgoad
Right on!

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Chris_Dollar
Thanks for joining the fight! We're getting closer to our goal. Spread the
word.

