All posts by Midnightschildren

Internet Freedom

Choice for SF Apartment-Dwellers

 

Update:  Farrell’s ordinance passed the committee unanimously!

A new ordinance before SF’s Supervisors requires SF landlords to provide a choice of telecom providers to tenants.

The ordininance, which is sponsored by Supervisor Farrell, requires San Francisco property owners to allow tenants to receive services from the Internet or cable provider of their choice and prevents landlords from declaring their properties exclusive for particular carriers. Continue reading Choice for SF Apartment-Dwellers →

Surveillance

Stop Urban Shield

 

Update: The Berkeley City Council had a lengthy and contentious meeting that ended with arrests. Here is a Media Alliance op-ed and the meeting video is available here if you have six hours to kill.

Oakland law firm Siegel and Yee sent a cure and correct letter after the meeting ended in a police riot, but has yet to initiate litigation.

22Cure-and-Correct22-notice

The upshot is that the City of Berkeley reiterated an “intention” to eventually pull out of Urban Shield, but failed to actually do so. CM Ben Bartlett says he is assembling a blue ribbon commission to address Berkeley’s participation in Urban Shield.

For the latest Power Point presentation about the police militarization exercise prepared by the Alameda County Sheriffs Office, click here. 

On June 20, 2017, the Berkeley City Council will consider (for the 4th time in 2017 and the 6th time in the last two years, whether to pull out of the police militarization expo.

Join us at Longfellow Middle School at 1500 Derby Street in Berkeley to see if history will be made with the first California city getting on the record in opposition to the militarization of local law enforcement.

See below for the Stop Urban Shield Coalition’s report, and videos of Urban Shield exercises and SWAT exercises.

Continue reading Stop Urban Shield →

Media Ownership, Press Room

San Mateo Community College District Refuses to Be Open About KCSM TV Sale

 

Updating the San Mateo community on the sale of the non-commercial TV station KCSM-TV, which has been housed at the College of San Mateo since 1964, is no easy task.

For the second consecutive time, a public records request filed by Media Alliance (MA), this time accompanied by a request by the Palo Alto Daily Post newspaper, has been denied by the Board of Trustees. In 2012, the names of the bidders were not released until the District had already decided to reject all 6 bids. In 2013, the District confirms that negotiations are on-going with one “top bidder”, but refuses to divulge who that top bidder may be and what their plans are. Continue reading San Mateo Community College District Refuses to Be Open About KCSM TV Sale →

Media Ownership, Press Room

KGO Feature on Low-Power Radio and Common Frequency

 

The ABC Evening News featured low-power radio, Common Frequency and Media Alliance and the Local Community Radio Act. Watch the video!

Also featuring the Grassroots Radio Coalition Quilt and a mention of pirate radio on ABC, which made the final editorial cut!

Media Ownership, Press Room

California’s 5th Largest Public TV Station May be Scrapped for Wireless Spectrum

 

San Mateo-At a Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday November 14 2012,  the San Mateo Community College District, which operates 3 community colleges (Skyline College, Canada College and the College of San Mateo), discussed the fate of the noncommercial television license they have owned since 1964 – KCSM TV. KCSM’s signal reaches 10 Bay Area counties and is broadcast on 60 municipal cable systems throughout the Bay Area. Continue reading California’s 5th Largest Public TV Station May be Scrapped for Wireless Spectrum →