Net Neutrality Battle: AT&T Under Fire for iPad, iPhone FaceTime Rules

September, 18, 2012 9:12 am | Comments On #at&t, Media, net neutrality

A group of public interest organizations are preparing a complaint against AT&T for violating net neutrality rules by blocking access to a video-conferencing application.

In a letter to AT&T, three groups -- Free Press, Public Knowledge and the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute -- assert that the telecommunications giant is running afoul of Federal Communications Commission regulations by charging a premium for access to FaceTime.

"We respectfully request that AT&T reconsider its behavior and the impact that blocking FaceTime will have on its customers, particularly the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as all who use this application to communicate with family and...

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Beyoncé, Jay-Z Join Forces With Obama Campaign for Contest, Fund-Raiser

September, 13, 2012 10:32 am | Comments On #2012, Beyonce, campaign, Jay-Z, music, President Obama

Jay-Z and Beyoncé Knowles are still in it to help President Obama win it in his second bid for the White House.

Knowles made an online pitch on Obama’s behalf on Thursday, sending his supporters an email with an “amazing invitation” to meet with the musical duo and the president for an evening in New York City at an as-yet-undetermined date before Election Day.

“I’ve had the honor of meeting President Obama and the First Lady a few times,” Beyoncé says in the promotional email, “and believe me – it’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss.”

As with several previous Obama campaign sweepstakes involving famous figures from the...

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Obama Campaign Fires Back at Dinesh D'Souza, Fact-Checks '2016'

September, 11, 2012 12:53 pm | Comments On #2016, Clint Eastwood, Movies, President Clinton, President Obama

Barack Obama’s campaign has hit back at Dinesh D’Souza and his filmmaking team for their cutting characterization of the incumbent president in “2016: Obama’s America.”

On Sept. 5, as the anti-Obama documentary continued its winning streak at the box office and the Democratic National Convention hit a crescendo with a rousing appearance by former President Bill Clinton, a pointed blog entry about “2016” was posted on BarackObama.com.

Calling D’Souza, a longtime fixture on the right-wing speakers’ circuit, “a self-proclaimed expert on the President,” the blog post on the campaign site’s “Truth Team” page fires this opening salvo: “Right-wing author Dinesh D’Souza has recently released ‘2016: Obama’s America,’ a movie that falsely smears President Obama as...

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FCC's Genachowski Backs Away From Broadband Tax Proposal

September, 10, 2012 3:49 pm | Comments On #FCC, Julius Genachowski, Media, Republican

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is sounding his retreat from a controversial agency proposal to tax internet service.

Getty Images

Genachowski (pictured) said in a statement on Monday that the agency has all but pulled the plug on the concept of imposing an assessment on broadband internet service to help raise money to subsidize telecommunications services to rural and low-income consumers.

The agency’s existing subsidy fund -- the so-called Universal Service Fund -- currently raises about $8 billion a year through assessments on a variety of conventional telephone services, but not from Internet services.

To spread the costs of the fund, the agency earlier this...

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MPAA's Chris Dodd Praises Democrats for Anti-Piracy Language in Party Platform

September, 04, 2012 10:17 am | Comments On #CHris Dodd, Democrats, Movies, MPAA, piracy

Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Chris Dodd praised the Democratic Party Tuesday for recognizing the danger of online piracy in its party platform language on intellectual property.

Getty Images“I am extremely pleased that the Democratic Party’s platform language reinforces the critical importance of protecting America’s intellectual property while ensuring the free flow of information on the Internet," Dodd said in a statement.

"The Internet is a nearly unparalleled source of creativity and innovation, not just in the entertainment community, but across nearly every sector of the U.S. economy. Protecting that source of creativity, as well as protecting the rights of the...

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Petition Launches for Betty White to Introduce Obama at DNC

September, 02, 2012 12:13 pm | Comments On #Betty White, Clint Eastwood, DNC, Golden Girls, Obama, Television, TV video

Social media users are petitioning to have Betty White introduce Barack Obama at next week's Democratic National Convention, arguing that the "Hot in Cleveland" star will be a palate cleanser for older Americans following Clint Eastwood's dadaist performance at last Thursday's Republican National Convention.

"Clint Eastwood, the Republican's 'mystery guest' at the RNC, gave a bad name to older Americans everywhere with his absurd and awkward-to-watch introduction of Governor Romney," the petition reads.

Also read:...

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Meet Mitt Romney, a Nice Man Saddened by This Obama Fellow (Review)

August, 30, 2012 8:46 pm | Comments On #acceptance speech, Barack Obama, convention speech, Mitt Romney, rnc, Television

As he accepted the Republican nomination for president, Mitt Romney left it to tough guy Clint Eastwood to go man-to-man with President Obama's empty chair.

Which freed him up to play the nice guy: A simple, plain-talking American who was disappointed and incredulous at Obama's failures.

Getty Images"I wish President Obama had succeeded, because I want America to succeed," he said. "You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you've had was the day you...

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Michelle Obama Makes the TV Rounds With 'Rachel Ray,' 'Dr. Oz,' 'Late Show' Cameos

August, 29, 2012 1:18 pm | Comments On #David Letterman, First Lady, Michelle Obama, President Obama, Television

 

First Lady Michelle Obama is taking to the airwaves as her husband’s newly sanctioned presidential rival, Mitt Romney, and his cohorts continued their power-huddle at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Getty Images

In addition to a previously booked visit on Wednesday to the “Late Show with David Letterman,” airing that evening, Mrs. Obama was also scheduled to drop in for her first visits to “The Dr. Oz Show” and “Rachel Ray,” according to a press release issued by the White House.

Also read: ...

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Jon Voight at the RNC: Obama Administration's 'Propaganda' Has Taken Over U.S. Media

August, 28, 2012 10:31 am | Comments On #2016: Obama's America, Hollywood, Jon Voight, Movies, President Obama, Republican Convention, rnc, Tampa

Republican Conventioneer Jon Voight is letting fly with some strong commentary about President Obama, Mitt Romney and what he believes to be a formidable liberal bias in the American media.

Representing a relatively small faction of openly right-leaning celebrities in Hollywood, the actor was the featured speaker at a breakfast meeting of Virginia delegation members in Clearwater on Monday as his “first job” at the GOP summit.

“This country’s been downgraded for the last four years,” Voight warned, rallying his audience by adding, “We have this little window of time to do something about it -- to get it back on track.”

The “Midnight Cowboy” star and father to globe-trotting do-gooder Angelina Jolie endorsed presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney and his VP pick while he was at it. "I’m very...

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Ivi TV Loses Bid to Get Back Into Online Rebroadcasting Business

August, 27, 2012 2:16 pm | Comments On #Aereo, broadcasters, internet, ivi, Television

A federal appeals court on Monday affirmed a lower court decision from last year blocking ivi TV from streaming broadcasters' live signals on the Internet.

The Seattle-based ivi launched a service in 2010 offering packages of TV signals from broadcasters to ivi subscribers — without compensating broadcasters for the retransmissions. Ivi was charging its own customers $4.99 a month for the streaming service while refusing to pay the shows' owners.

The Big 4 TV networks and other broadcasters sued to block ivi in September 2010, after ivi argued that it was legally entitled to stream the signals because a loophole in the copyright law cleared the way for cable operators to retransmit local...

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