

New documentary exposes media consolidation and government collusion - Chris_Dollar
http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/11/06/14/killswitch-and-battle-over-internet

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Vic-nyc
This would be a very interesting and timely movie, since we're approaching a
cycle when conglomerates are, once again, consolidating into ever-bigger
entities. (think AT&T trying to buy T-mobile as a small example).

I would also recommend Tim Wu's book "The Master Switch" that discusses media
monopolies in the U.S. in historical perspective, from the telegraph and early
telephone on to movie studios and on to the Internet nowadays. As the book
explains, the Internet itself in its current open form is a historical
aberration, similar to the multitude of choice in the early days of radio
which was short-lived, to be soon replaced by monopolies under the
government's helping hand. In fact, many technological inventions would not
even have been possible when they happened (and some were delayed by decades)
because of large monopolies. The origination of the Internet itself, the book
explains, is a direct result of the splitting of AT&T in 1984, which allowed,
for example the standard modem jack to exist (jacks and equipment were
proprietary before that), and which disallowed AT&T from getting in the
Internet business as an ISP. It seems that these lessons have begun to be,
once again, forgotten by our modern generation. The solution to all this would
be that the government properly fulfills its role of ensuring free market
access and prevention of monopolies. It would also entail what's termed a
"separations principle", the creation of distance between each of the major
layers in the information economy.

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Chris_Dollar
Good insights Vic-nyc.

Tim Wu's book is excellent and was one of the many books that have influenced
me in the writing of this doc. He's on our list of future interviewees.

His explanation of the "Separations Principle" is essential reading for any
one that wants to protect the integrity of the Internet as we know it.

Have you read Evgeny Morozov's book, "The Net Delusion"...? Interesting book
-- He looks at the future of the Internet and of democratic government from an
interesting perspective. His central premise is that totalitarian governments
in the 21st century will look increasingly more like Huxley's, "Brave New
World" than Orwell's "1984"...

We plan on interviewing him as well...

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rkalla
For folks more in-the-know than me on govt/corp history, does the power
struggle between the people and controlling entities (wether it be the govt or
the corps as we are seeing more recently) ebb and flow? Is this an ebb in out
history where we see the balance of power pouring to the corp side of the
scale or is this an unprecedented moment in history where we see control in
health care, research, internet, communications, news, newspaper/magazine,
popular culture (TV shows, Disney-created properties, modern fads, etc.),
food, etc. all primarily dictated by corporations?

I'll do my part to pledge money for this movie because I think it is important
to shine as much light as possible into dark corners... the lack of light
allows nasty things to grow it seems, but I also (unfortunately) have no
expectations that any change will come out of this as a result.

It seems like we have more information about corruptions and injustices now
than we ever have in the history of the world; whether it is too overwhelming
or "just not bad enough to care", the result of things mostly staying the same
and going down the same path seem to continue.

Either things aren't as bad/terrible/horrifying as movies like Lose Change and
Zeitgeist make them out to be or we (humans) are extremely difficult to
mobilize as a group.

I really don't know how to think about gross imbalances of power. You see it
so much it doesn't surprise you any more, but you still hate it, but I'm also
very busy so I'm not running out with signs to stand on corners trying to get
people to change their minds.

Anyone have more valuable thoughts on this to help put this in perspective?
I'd appreciate it.

~~~
rst
A couple of books on the topic: "The Master Switch" by Tim Wu, and "The
Creation of the Media", by Paul Starr.

"The Master Switch" goes through the history of radio, where an initial period
of experimentation was stifled by regulation, with big business (the large
networks) being the major beneficiary; the two weren't necessarily opposed.

On the other hand, the former will show you that eliminating regulation
doesn't necessarily eliminate the problem. In the absence of effective
regulation in the 19th century, Western Union seized an effective monopoly on
telegraphy. Having done that, they then made a deal for cut rates with the
Associated Press whereby AP-affiliated newspapers (effectively, any paper that
wanted to cover national stories) were forbidden to editorialize against the
monopoly.

~~~
Chris_Dollar
Hi rst:

You're right, "Master Switch" is a great book. It has influenced me in the
writing of #killswitch.

Link to #killswitch project:
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akorn/killswitch-a-
docum...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akorn/killswitch-a-documentary-
film?ref=live)

I have not read "The Creation of the Media", by Paul Starr. What can you tell
me about that book?

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Chris_Dollar
For those that want to know more about the film... check out our kickstarter
page:

[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akorn/killswitch-a-
docum...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akorn/killswitch-a-documentary-
film?ref=live)

(Our 5 minute trailer is posted there - and you can contribute to production
if you would like to - we've raised over $14,000 in two weeks thanks friends
passing this along)

You can read our treatment on our official website: www.killswitchthefilm.com

And if you want to see the film projects we've worked on in the past go here:
www.akorn.tv

Thanks everyone for taking interest. We have no advertising budget, so any
interest we generate is word of mouth.

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ColinWright
Interesting how on one hand people are claiming that the government is
colluding to create internet censorship, and on the other hand the government
is sponsoring a device to help circumvent internet censorship:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2651245>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2652169>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2656074>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2656816>

Left hand? Right hand? What will the government do when people create their
own mesh internet?

~~~
Chris_Dollar
Very interesting, Colin.

Our central premise in #killswitch - the documentary, is that decentralization
of knowledge is essential for democracy.

The Printing Press gave society this during the enlightenment period, halting
centuries of oppression in the Western World. And the Internet is doing this
today by revitalizing democracies in the Western world and helping ignite
revolution in the Middle East.

We advocate a Constitutional framework that protects the integrity of the
Internet. i.e. a separations principle, whereby content providers should not
be ISP's and vice versa. (Detailed account of this in Tim Wu's, "Master
Switch").

We are averse to any "Big Brother" Regulation by the Government or "Brave New
World" Corporate take-over of the Internet.

The only way to combat oppression is to have accountable governance is to have
decentralization of info/knowledge.

One of a demcocracy's central purposes is to protect this decentralized and
accountable framework (by protecting the decentralized integrity of the
Internet).

One way the gov. can do this by enforcing the 1st Amendment, i.e. Freedom of
the Press and Freedom of Speech. But the gov. won't do this with out an aware
and educated citizenry. Which is why we're making the documentary.

Check out our trailer on kickstarter when you get a chance:
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akorn/killswitch-a-
docum...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akorn/killswitch-a-documentary-
film)

    
    
      (for a detailed account of how our founding father's expressed the difference between Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech, check out Robert McChesney's  "The Death and Life of American Journalism")

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jentulman
Whilst not directly related to #killswitch, if you'd like to see some great
documentaries related to the balance of power between business, government and
the public then I can highly recommend checking out the work of documentarian
Adam Curtis <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curtis>

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chopsueyar
This is actually a request for donations to create a documentary...

but there is a trailer.

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