Jeff Chester Quotations

Now they (consumers and competitors) will have to go through a celestial gatekeeper who will decide what the prices and terms will be for both programmers and content providers.

If we permit more takeovers, such as AT&T and BellSouth, we will eventually see a further shrinking of the number of conglomerates dominating our local and national media.

Our communications system, and our democracy, is at a crossroads.

Steve Case is the Benedict Arnold of the digital age,

Long range, what this really does is set the stage for super-media monopolies to control online communication through combinations of phone, newspaper and broadcast television mergers.

Members from both sides of the aisle endorsed a plan which will permit cable and phone companies to construct 'pay as you surf, pay as you post' toll booths for the Internet.

Unfortunately there's this gold rush mentality to bring these products to market,

With lucrative industry employment ahead of them, FCC chairs and most commissioners have a built-in conflict of interest, ... They simply can't take the independent positions necessary to fulfill their responsibilities to the public and to the public interest.

Dropping the AOL from its corporate name is their version of joining a federal witness protection program where you're given a new identity. But playing the name game won't help the company. If there is such a thing as conglomerate bad karma, AOLTW is getting what it deserves.

This is bad news for consumers and competitors, ... We are losing competition and some diversity.

This merger becomes a critical flash point in this growing concern about the future of the Internet in the United States.

There needs to be a clear national standard.

This is the owner's manual that they're providing to the cable industry to monopolize the Internet.

It's about having a virtual, electronic toll booth to constantly charge you extra for things we get today for a fair and flat rate.

For consumers in states like Michigan, you'll have fewer companies offering fewer services and you'll see rates for phone, video and the Internet continue to creep up. In the absence of strong regulation and safeguards this is a bad deal for competition and consumers.

Instead of the Internet reflecting what the federal courts not long ago called 'the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed,' it's now threatened to be reduced to what AT&T called its private pipes.