Digital Inclusion

Open Internet Proposal Gets 24% Support From Verizon Shareholders This represents a three-fold increase in support from a similar action filed last year, which garnered 7.9% of shareholder votes in favor of a net neutrality proposal.

Susan Crawford in SF on May 14th Former White House Advisor and law professor Susan Crawford speaks on her new book Captive Audience: Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age. 2:00pm on May 14th at the CPUC Auditorium 505 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

Internet Freedom: Dubai and Beyond by Committee on Foreign Affairs, http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/joint-subcommittee-hearing-fighting-internet-freedom-dubai-and-beyond In DC, an important hearing on the international administration of the Internet. Check out the video.

Hold Big Media Accountable

Statewide PUC Hearings on Wireless Lifeline Throughout May, June and July, the PUC will hold public hearings throughout California to gather public input on wireless lifeline.

No Such Thing as an Obamaphone: Keeping Universal Service Real by The Utility Ratepayer Network/CMJ, http://www.turn.org Soup in every pot, a toilet in every house, America has made promises about what is available to all. One of those things is a phone connection to call for help when needed.

County Allows Outrageous Charges for Inmate Phone Calls by Tracy Rosenberg, Contra Costa Times/San Jose Mercury News Op-ed on the disparity between county and state facilities on prison phone calling rates

Media Ownership

Koch Brothers Purchase of LA Times by CrossXBones, Ustream Watch the 5-23 protest against the sale of the LA Times to the Koch Brothers LIVE from Ustream.

SMCCD Board Liquidates KCSM-TV by Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance May 18th, 2013 On Wednesday May 15th, three San Mateo Community College board trustees approved an unseen contract with Locuspoint Networks, a 99%-owned subsidiary of hedge firm The Blackstone Group, to liquidate the 48-year-old noncommercial TV station KCSM in a spectrum auction.

KCSM-TV To Be Sold Off to Notorious Blackstone Group The San Mateo Community College District announced plans to liquidate peninsula public television in partnership with the Blackstone Group hedge fund.

Press Freedom and Media Workers

AP Phone Records Seizure by Sean Sullivan, Washington Post May 15th, 2013 Several news organizations slammed the Justice Department for the Associated Press phone records seizure.

Urban Habitat Suspends Publication of Race Poverty and the Environment Urban Habitat has announced the suspension of Race Poverty and the Environment, their journal of 20+ years which chronicled movements for social justice across the Bay and across the United States.

Google Says To Tone It Down by Daniel Eran Dilger, Apple Insider Google asked an Australian Tech reporter to tone down coverage of security flaws in the Google Play store.

Raising Our Voices

Digital Literacy Curriculum Curriculum from 2009-2010 Raising Our Voices Workshops

In Memory of My Son This film was created by Consuelo Sopelario as a part of the 2008 Raising Our Voices Training Program coordinated by Media Alliance and sited at the East Side Arts Alliance in Oakland. Thanks to Eloise Lee, Renee Geesler, Tiny Grey-Garcia, Jess Clarke, R.J Lozada, Dorothy Kidd, Erika Myszynski, Karl Jagbanhandsingh, Taizet Hernandez and many others.

A Socially Responsible DTV Transition This film was created by students at Centro de Raza's Youth Law Academy in the Spring of 2009 as a part of the 2008-09 Raising Our Voices Training Program coordinated by Media Alliance and sited at the East Side Arts Alliance in Oakland. Thanks to Eloise Lee, Renee Geesler, Tiny Grey-Garcia, Jess Clarke, R.J Lozada, Dorothy Kidd, Erika Myszynski, Karl Jagbanhandsingh, Taizet Hernandez and many others.