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Civil Rights Group Backed by Telecom Industry Seeks to Block Net Neutrality, Instantly Contradicts Itself

September 1, 2015

Civil Rights Group Backed by Telecom Industry Seeks to Block Net Neutrality, Instantly Contradicts Itself

The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, an organization thatsays its purpose is to advance “equal opportunity and civil rights” in the media, has faced criticism in the past that the organization acts as little more than a corporate front group.

Two positions taken recently by MMTC suggest that such criticism is accurate: The positions contradict one another, but both reflect the desires of MMTC’s funders.

In August, MMTC joined an industry-led lawsuit against net neutrality, filing a brief in support of the U.S. Telecom Association’s lawsuit to overturn net neutrality. The MMTC brief claims that net neutrality will deepen the digital divide, causing millions of disadvantaged communities to continue to lack Internet service because purported lower-cost solutions that violate open Internet principles will be blocked.

But just months ago, MMTC lobbied for a radio industry-backed rule that rests on the assumption that Americans already enjoy equal access to the Internet. In an April 13 letter to the Federal Communications Commission, MMTC supported a petition by radio station companies that would allow broadcasters to move sponsorship information from on-air announcements to an Internet database.

How can MMTC claim that citizens can simply go online for radio sponsorship information in one breath, then claim it is fighting net neutrality on behalf of millions of Americans without Internet access in another? I asked MMTC for comment, but have not heard back.

It’s not the first time MMTC has offered seemingly contradictory policy proposals.

MMTC leader David Honig has said on multiple occasions that one of his primary goals is to combat “threats to minority ownership” in the media industry.

 

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