Interesting People mailing list archives
in all fairness,
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:40:48 -0700
________________________________________ From: Bruce Kushnick [bruce () newnetworks com] Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 11:31 PM To: David Farber Cc: bob37-2 () bobf frankston com Subject: FYI --- Thanks for posting ---- in all fairness, I (and maybe bob F?) would be glad to debate the issues in a public forum -- as long as all parties outlines their clients. In my articles on astroturf, think tanks, etc. it is clear that because of their ability to influence due to massive funding, other voices are not mentioned, or are politically pushed to the side. I know this because In the case of the FCC, when we were on the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee, we went through and discovered that, at the time the majority of the group was comprised of companies, as well as 'consumer groups', funded and tied to the companies. It was no wonder then when Tom Allibone asked to clean up phone bills based on our research, that we were not invited to present the data publically at a meeting. The size of the committee changed after the Washington Post wrote a story, but that didn't change the influence in DC. The FTC's report on broadband, for example, had multiple quotes from analysts who were paid by the phone companies, and their bios in no way explained this relationship -- a failure of transparency. This influence extends throughout the current regulatory environment. As a former Bell consultant working on large projects like the deployment of Caller ID and interactive 800 and 900 services, when someone gives you $50,000-100,000 per job, even if you are a nice guy, researchers and analysts would never put out a document that contradicts their employers. You do not bite the hand that feeds you... as I have learned. Even if you don't agree, you will omit parts of the story or play down others. And to be fair, some times, since you never examine all of the data or others reinforce these same flaws, you can believe false or misleading conclusions. Teletruth is funded through forensic phone audits for small business, municipalities and school boards, a research grant with the California Consumer Protection Fund to work with UCAN and study phone bills, expert assistance in legal actions, and the sale of ebooks. We do not take money from large corporations or political organizations. Bruce Kushnick, ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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