Half a kudo to NRDC

Once upon a time, I gave money to the United Farm Workers and I signed a petition from the ACLU. Now I get at daily requests for money and/or signatures from a myriad of cause-driven organizations.

Anyone who has made the bleeding heart mailing list as I have, knows that most organizations can't seemed to figure out how to create a petition that fits into the return envelope in a reasonable manner. I usually end up sending in a document folded 6 times that might as well be a crumpled little ball.

But today, for the first time ever, I received a petition from NRDC that actually fits inside the return envelope. I'm tempted to send a donation with my signature this time--especially if I could guarantee the money would go to the competent person who figured out how to measure.

So kudos to NRDC. But only half a kudo, because they still send me way to much junk mail to be "environmental." (And yes, I've been trying to contact all the interest groups who send me mail to ask to be taken off their list, but a reduction in mail has yet to become a reality.)

Media Justice

Last weekend, I participated in a Common Cause conference that asked the question, "Is the Media Undermining our Democracy." I loved Brad Friedman's response below.



In general, the conference covered many of the issues I care about and have thought about before, but as I prepared for my session on Using Web 2.0 to Get Your Message Out, I was reminded of some sobering facts:

On Broadband Speed

• Median real-time download speed in the U.S.: 1.9 megabits per second (mbps)
• Average download speeds in Japan:61 mbps
• Average download speeds in South Korea: 45 mbps
• Average download speeds in France: 17 mbps
• Average download speeds in Canada: 7 mbps.
• More info: http://www.speedmatters.org/

On Access to Broadband

• 22 out of 100 of Americans have broadband subscriptions, ranking the U.S. at 15th among industrialized nations
• America ranks 5th among industrialized nations for the most expensive broadband
• More info: OECD Broadband Portal
  

On What Americans do on the Internet

• Check out these statistics. Sure, 75% of Americans use the internet everyday, but only 16% use it to access information about politics, just 9% log in to the very social network sites I talked about in my session, and only 7% read blogs.
  

So does the concept of Web 2.0 have value? Absolutely. But is it truly cutting through the b.s. put out by mainstream news sources? Not for the majority of the population.

We have a long way to go. In the meantime, let's do what we can to advocate for net neutrality, because if we don't stay on top of that, it won't matter who has access.