From SavetheInternet.com: SavetheInternet.com just caught Comcast Corp. stacking an FCC hearing with paid (and apparently sleepy) seat-fillers. The hearing was set up to investigate Comcast’s recent blocking of the Internet. But Comcast packed the room so that the public couldn’t get in to voice their support for Net Neutrality. We took pictures and recorded an interview that proves Comcast was taking seats from concerned citizens. Now, we need you to make sure that the company doesn’t get away with this ever again. Here’s what you can do: Comcast is blocking the public debate just like it is blocking the Internet: it wields its substantial political and financial power to shut out debate and shut up people. Tens of thousands of people have already protested Comcast by writing the FCC a or urging their elected officials to support the “Internet Freedom Preservation Act,” a bipartisan bill that would re-establish Net Neutrality protections as a foundation of communications policy. For too long, media policymaking has been rigged against us. By taking action, we’re sending a wakeup call to phone and cable lobbyists that they will no longer set the agenda. Whether it’s on the Internet or at public hearings, we will stand up for everyone’s right to connect and be heard.
This picture (which you can redistribute as you wish) tells a part of the story. Comcast paid people to fill space who were so uninterested in the issue that they took the opportunity to nap. Meanwhile, more than a hundred people with legitimate concerns were left out in the Boston cold. (read more about it on our blog and the links below)