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Emergency Alert System (EAS) | Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau
The EAS is a national public warning system that requires broadcasters, cable television systems, wireless cable systems, satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) providers, and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers to provide the communications capability to the President to address the American public during a national emergency. The system also may be used by state and local authorities to deliver important emergency information, such as AMBER alerts and weather information targeted to specific areas. The first Nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System will be carried out on November 9, 2011. For more information about the test or access to the participant reporting system, please click here.
Why can't we watch Al Jazeera? - War Room
Al Jazeera English’s only bureau in the Western Hemisphere occupies five floors of a nondescript office building on Washington, D.C.’s K Street. The lobby is drab — just a hallway and two elevators. There is no sign on the door, no gold symbol affixed on the wall. In fact, the name Al Jazeera does not appear anywhere. If you didn’t know better, you might think the building was home to dentist’s offices or mid-level lobbying firms, instead of the most controversial news channel in the world. To get upstairs, a non-employee must have an escort, and on a cold day last spring, mine was Lauren McCollough.
Chilly Syracuse, New York, is home to the most dramatic ongoing attempt to stifle student speech so far in 2011. The Syracuse University College of Law has been considering expelling a law student for "harassment" because he liked The Onion enough to allegedly participate in a satirical fake-news blog about law school life . But SU won't reveal who his accusers are or say what was harassing about any of it. " Independent prosecutor " and law professor Gregory Germain pooh-poohs SU's free speech commitment , complaining about "people who have a sense of entitlement to free speech. " Germain even wants a gag order on the student. For Syracuse to be taken seriously as a place dedicated to intellectual inquiry it needs to stop this inquisition against a humor website.
Greg Lukianoff: The 12 Worst Colleges For Free Speech
[UPDATE: A roundup of BoingBoing's ongoing coverage of events in Egypt is here .] On Thursday Jan 27th at 22:34 UTC the Egyptian Government effectively removed Egypt from the internet . Nearly all inbound and outbound connections to the web were shut down. The internet intelligence authority Renesys explains it here and confirms that "virtually all of Egypt's Internet addresses are now unreachable, worldwide." This has never happened before in the entire history of the internet, with a nation of this size. A block of this scale is completely unheard of, and Senator Joe Lieberman wants to be able to do the same thing in the US.
Egypt turns off internet, Lieberman wants same option for US
If you thought the Federal Communications Commission’s vote to approve limited net neutrality rules were the end of the dispute, think again. If you thought the Federal Communications Commission 's vote to approve limited net neutrality rules were the end of the dispute, think again. Net neutrality refers to the principle that ISPs should not be allowed to block or degrade Internet traffic from their competitors in order to speed up their own.
Verizon-FCC net neutrality fight only beginning | Computerworld NZ
Internet Freedom Act
Verizon Challenges FCC's Net Neutrality Rules
WASHINGTON — Verizon Communications Inc. on Thursday filed a legal challenge to new federal regulations that prohibit broadband providers from interfering with Internet traffic flowing over their networks. In a filing in federal appeals court in the District of Columbia, Verizon argues that the Federal Communications Commission overstepped its authority in adopting the new "network neutrality" rules last month. The rules prohibit phone and cable companies from favoring or discriminating against Internet content and services – including online calling services such as Skype and Internet video services such as Netflix, which in many cases compete with services sold by companies like Verizon. The FCC's three Democrats voted to adopt the rules over the opposition of the agency's two Republicans just before Christmas. Republicans in Congress, who now control the House, have vowed to try to block the rules from taking effect.Last spring the FCC approved the merger of Comcast, the nation’s largest cable and Internet provider, with NBC Universal. The Justice Department followed suit, leading to the unprecedented consolidation of media and Internet power. Letting one company control both the pipes and the content that flows over those pipes is a formula for abuse.
Comcastrophe
Manning’s statement, straight from the detainee’s mouth Freedom of the Press Foundation releases a leaked recording of the soldier's pretrial statement VIDEO Natasha Lennard Tuesday, Mar 12, 2013 3:13 PM UTC News Video , Bradley Manning Manning will face most serious charges Despite the soldier's voluntary plea to lesser charges, the government pushes full court martial Natasha Lennard Sunday, Mar 3, 2013 4:00 PM UTC News Bradley Manning , David Coombs
Project Vigilant and the government/corporate destruction of privacy - Glenn Greenwald
A Media Colossus Is Born: Feds Approve Comcast-NBCU Merger | Epicenter
<img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-27775" title="comcast_remote" src="http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/business/2011/01/comcast_remote-300x238.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="238" /> They’ll be popping corks tonight in Philly. The world has never seen a media Goliath like the entity that was born Tuesday after the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger of Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, and NBC Universal, the mammoth entertainment giant. The Justice Department also announced that it had signed off on the deal. Philadelphia-based Comcast has achieved what some have referred to as “the holy grail” of the entertainment business: the union of a vast broadband-distribution network with a rich stable of content and talent.
En voulant forcer Twitter à coopérer dans son enquête contre Julian Assange, le Département de la justice américain espère probablement trouver des preuves contre le fondateur de WikiLeaks. Il vient surtout d'envoyer un message désastreux. Dans la quête qu’il a engagé pour coincer légalement Julian Assange, le département de la Justice (DoJ) américain a multiplié les manoeuvres depuis six semaines. Le 30 novembre, soit le lendemain des premières fuites diplomatiques coordonnées par WikiLeaks, le procureur général Eric Holder notifiait la presse de l’ouverture d’une “enquête active”.