By Miriam Raftery

Image: CC via Bing

February 8, 2024 (San Diego’s East County) – AT&T has filed an application asking the California Public Utilities Commission to end AT&T’s obligation to serve as a carrier of last resort (COLR) and cease maintaining land line telephone service. A map indicates this would include the entire San Diego region. If the CPUC approves the request,  land line service could end as early as six months later.

There are no in-person hearings in San Diego County, but you can voice your opinion in a virtual hearing March 19 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. or post online comments here.  

"If approved by the CPUC, over 580,000 affected AT&T customers would be left with fewer options in terms of choice, quality, and affordability," warns the Rural County Representatives of California. "Alternative services, such as VoIP and wireless, have no obligation to serve a customer or to provide equivalent services to AT&T landline customers, including no obligation to provide reliable access to 911 or Lifeline program discounts."

The proposal has drawn strong opposition from rural residents in East County and elsewhere in California, as well as consumer advocates who warn that ending land lines would leave many in rural or remote locations with no reliable phone service at all, since Internet VOIP phone service is not widely available in many places and some areas also lack cell phone connectivity. Even for those with cell service, land lines have proven life-saving options when cell towers have burned down during wildfires in places such as rural Potrero.

Bombshell story from Gizmodo underscores need for FCC to address serious issues with its public comment process before making any decision on net neutrality. 15,000+ people call on lawmakers to demand that FCC comply with transparency laws

Source:  Fight for the Future

August 7, 2017 (Washington D.C.) --In a bombshell story from Gizmodo today, a former FCC security employee lays waste to the agency’s claims that a pair of DDoS attacks took down the FCC comment website at the exact moments when large amounts of pro net neutrality comments would have been flooding into the docket following viral segments from comedian John Oliver in 2014 and 2017. The agency’s inability to maintain a functional way for the public to comment on its net neutrality proceedings has become an issue of concern for members of Congress overseeing the agency, and raises questions about how it can or should move forward with its rulemaking process.

Internet-based phones worry rural communities due to spotty reception, posing threats to safety and universal coverage

By Sharon Penny

April 4, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) --Many citizens are not aware that AT&T and Verizon, among other telecom giants, are lobbying the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and individual states to make telephone landlines go the way of the buggy whip. Soon, everyone in the U.S. may only have options for internet-based telephone service and cell service.

At the Boulevard Planning Group meeting held on April 3, local resident Kevin Keane, an IT and Telecommunications professional, discussed the issue with local residents, who were unaware these plans are in the works. 

By Jennifer Douglas, jen@saveklsd.com

May 3, 2013 (San Diego)--The need for media reform and putting a halt to further media consolidation now seems urgent. Since late April, we have learned that billionaire conservative activists are moving ahead in a bid to buy the Los Angeles Times; Obama's nominated a former corporate lobbyist to head the Federal Communications Commission (FCC); a senator reminds us that six mega-corporations own most of our mass media, and a leading champion of media reform, Common Cause leader Bob Edgar (photo, left) has died suddenly.

December 19, 2012 -- (San Diego’s East County) – ECM World Watch helps you be an informed citizen about important issues globally and nationally. As part of our commitment to reflect all voices and views, we include links to a wide variety of news sources representing a broad spectrum of political, religious, and social views. Top world and U.S. headlines include:

U.S.

Mass shooting at Connecticut elementary school:

• Fear of being committed may have caused Connecticut gunman to snap (Fox)
• After a 1996 mass shooting, Australia enacted strict gun laws. It hasn’t had a similar massacre since. (Slate)
• Feinstein says bills to ban assault weapons will be a priority (La Mesa Patch)
• Newtown tragedy could put mental health in spotlight (USA Today)
• 'I Am Adam Lanza's Mother'  (Huffington Post)
• How many more Mondays? Changing a culture of glorified violence (San Diego Free Press)
• Sandy Hook: Police say shooter forced his way into school (Christian Science Monitor)
• School adviser: Gunman a loner who felt no pain (U-T San Diego)

Other national news:

• Kerry favorite to become Secretary of State (CBS)
• Deficit deal offers chance for salvation for 112th Congress (The Hill)
• Boehmer offers debt ceiling increase in cliff compromise (Washington Post)
• Obama’s new offer on fiscal cliff could lead to deal (New York Times)
• Flight of hypocrisy: Feds fine oil companies, give pass to wind farms killing birds (Fox)
• Cyberattacks on US banks resume, aiming to block their websites-tied to Hamas (Christian Science Monitor)
• Good Tidings Of Great Joy: Google Maps App Released For iPhone (NPR)
• Turn that down: FCC orders TV ads to lower volume (RawStory)
• Government PR surges amid media cuts (UT-San Diego)
• Illegal immigration drops after decade-long rise (U-T San Diego)
• 'We've Got Bigger Fish To Fry' Than Going After Pot Smokers, Obama Says (NPR)
• Mormon Women Dare To Wear Pants To Church (NPR)

WORLD

• Death toll from Typhoon tops 1,000 in Philippines (CNN)
• 'Syrian jets bomb Palestinian camp in Damascus' (Jerusalem Post)
• Codex committee: you can’t tell people that nutrients prevent disease! (Alliance for Natural Health)
• U.S. Officials: Syria Has Prepared Several Dozen Chemical Bombs (NPR)
• Police in Facebook global arrests (BBC)
• Egyptian women claim judge barred them from voting (U-T San Diego)
• Why Africa's lions are rapidly disappearing (Christian Science Monitor)
• Lack of food stunts Chad children, damages minds (U-T San Diego)
• New Palestinian group declares 3rd Intifada (Jerusalem Post)
• Russia raids activists in 'revolution' probe (Jewish World Review)
• Egypt court gives Christian 3 years for blasphemy (U-T San Diego)
• The Israeli Periphery (Jewish World Review)
• Israeli expansion threatens West Bank Bedouin (Al Jazeera)
• E.U. Votes To Have A Single Regulator For Its Banks (NPR)
• Japan’s ABE sees difficult road ahead (Al Jazeera)

Read more for excerpts and links to full stories.