$72 million spent since 2006 to control Internet under guise of "net neutrality"
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As FCC Chief Ajit Pai moves toward reversing
the Obama administration’s version of “net neutrality” rules, AstroTurf
“public interest groups” funded by a combination of Google, George
Soros’ Open Society Institution and the Ford Foundation are lobbying
hard to keep control of the Internet so as to be able to censor
conservative news, including Infowars.com.
In 2015, the
Obama FCC voted on party lines to pass regulations that gave the
government more control over the Internet, which was sold to the U.S.
public under the guise of “net neutrality.”
The regulations gave
the government virtual control over the nation’s Internet
infrastructure, with big government, “New Deal”-style, 1930s-based
regulatory powers that extended to oversee virtually everything that
transpires over the Internet, including content.
Since
2006, these three entities – Google, George Soros’ Open Society
Institution and the Ford Foundation – have contributed more than $72
million to non-profit leftist organizations that have been most active
in promoting the idea the Internet needs to be regulated by the
government as a “common carrier” public utility under Title II of the
Communications Act – the same regulatory framework crafted some 80 years
ago to regulate the old rotary phone system.
Infowars.com has
previously warned
that Google and the largest communications giants on the Internet
lobbied the federal government to define broadband under these
1930s-style regulations – a designation that would allow the government
to regulate more rigorously the broadband providers that built the core
network connecting users to the Internet as “common carriers.”
Of
course, this exempts content monopolies like Google and Facebook from
the strict regulations the FCC would apply to common carriers.
The
implementation of these 2015 regulations, which were heavily pushed by
Google in hundreds of closed-door meetings at the Obama White House,
carved out Google and the other Silicon Valley behemoths, and secured
their position as absolute information gatekeepers.
Since these
2015 regulations passed, Google and Facebook have moved to become the
judge, jury and executioner of the contact we read on the Internet,
under the guise of eliminating “fake news.”
While activists on the
political left would be appalled if a company such as Exxon-Mobil
funded a “public interest group” promoting the use of carbon-based
fuels, Google has been given a free pass by the left’s “public interest”
machine largely because of its direct financial support of such groups,
as well as its close political alliance with progressives, including
two of the left’s biggest funders — The Ford Foundation and George Soros
– in their efforts to firmly entrench the federal government in the
nation’s communications networks.
Current
and former employees of Google sit on the boards of several of the most
active groups that spent millions to get the 2015 Obama rules passed by
the FCC, and are now spending big to oppose the rollback of the FCC’s
regulations.
Other board members include academics and consultants
paid by Google as well as law firms that have represented Google in
several legal matters.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
While some leftist “public interest groups”
pushing to keep in place the FCC’s “net neutrality” rules disclose some
of the funding they have received from Google, most do not.
Consider the following groups:
– In 2011, EFF received $1 million from Google in a settlement over the Google Buzz class action lawsuit.
– The Ford Foundation contributed $500,000 to the non-profit between 2013 and 2016 according to the Foundation’s grants page.
– George Soros’ Open Society Institute lists another $620,000 in grants since 2008 according to OSI’s grants page.
Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT)
– Since 2011, Google has given more than $4.75 million to the non-profit according to its tax filings.
–
The connection between CDT and Google goes beyond the financial. From
2009 to 2016, the Ford Foundation has contributed $950,000 to CDT
according to Ford’s grants database.
– Since 2008, Soros’ Open Society Institute has contributed $900,000 to CDT according to OSI’s grants page.
New America Foundation
–
According to New America Foundation disclosures, Google was the largest
corporate contributor to the organization in 2016, contributing more
than $1 million. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt also contributed more than
$1 million to the organization through his family foundation and served
as the Chairman of the New America Foundation board until 2016.
–
Google’s and Eric Schmidt’s contributions to the New America Foundation
from 2012 through 2016 total between $4.75 million and $7 million
according to the non-profits current and archived “funding” pages.
–
Through Soros’ numerous foundations including the Open Society
Institute, Jennifer and Jonathan Allan Soros Foundation and others, the
New America Foundation has received between $3 million to $6 million in
funding from 2012 to 2016 according to New America’s current and
archived “funding” web pages.
Fight for the Future (FFTF)
– As Infowars.com has
previously reported FFTF is funded by the Open Internet Defense Fund, a project of George Soros’s Media Democracy Fund.
– FFTF board includes several members with close Google financial connections including:
Barbara van Schewick: Listed as the Clerk/Secretary of the FFTF board, van Schewick
also serves as a Professor of Law and Director of the Stanford Center for Internet & Society (CIS),
a group that boosts of “generous support from Google, Inc.
”
Marvin Ammori:
Listed as president of the FFTF Education Fund 501(c)3 board, Ammori is
the founder of the Ammori Group, a law firm and public policy firm
based in Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley, that lists Google as “the
largest and most established client we counsel.”
Yochai Benkler: Benkler serves as FFTF’s Board Secretary and as the
Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University – a
center that boasts Google as it’s top corporate backer and its fourth-largest donor (Harvard University is fifth).
Public Knowledge
–
According to the Public Knowledge “About” page, Google is a “platinum”
financial sponsor of the non-profit. From 2010 to 2014, Public Knowledge
received more than $11 million in contributions according to the
non-profit’s 990 disclosures.
– While Public Knowledge doesn’t
disclose the individual amounts of its contributors, it notes on its
“Sources of Funding” page that between half and two-thirds of its budget
comes from the Ford Foundation, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations,
the Media Democracy Fund and a handful of other foundations.
– According to the Ford Foundation grant database, Public Knowledge has received more than $7 million in Ford grants since 2006.
–
According to the Open Society Institute’s grants page, Public Knowledge
has received $500,000 in grants from the Soros non-profit since 2009.
Citizen Engagement Lab (CEL)
–
While it’s unclear whether Google itself funds CEL, the Eric &
Wendy Schmidt Family Foundation have given the non-profit $825,000 since
2013 according to the Foundation’s 990 tax filings.
– The Ford Foundation has contributed more than $8.9 million to CEL since 2007 according to the Foundation’s grants database.
– Since 2010, Soros’ Open Society Institute has contributed $750,000 to CEL according to OSI’s grants database.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
–
The American Civil Liberties Union received $7 million in grants from
Google in the same controversial Google Buzz “cy pres” settlement that
benefited EFF, CDT and many of the other non-profits fighting to keep in
place the “net neutrality” rule promulgated by the FCC under the Obama
administration.
– From 2011 to 2016, the Ford Foundation has contributed almost $10.5 million to the ACLU according to the Ford grants database.
– Since 2008, Soros’ Open Society Institute has contributed $1.14 million to the ACLU according to OSI’s grant page.
–
Under the Orwellian guise of “Internet freedom” and “civil liberties”
these leftist “public interest” groups have fought since at least 2000
to achieve exactly the opposite – more government control of the
Internet, fighting hard to secure and keep in place the Obama
administration’s big government “net neutrality” regulations.
https://www.infowars.com/soros-google-funding-net-neutrality-groups-to-control-internet-censor-infowars-com/
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