in all fairness,

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
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,






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