p2pnet - rss feed: Pearl Jam: censored by AT&T
p2pnet news | Freedom:- When Pearl Jam featured at Chicago’s Lollapalooza webcast on August 4, they replaced the original words to Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall with, “George Bush, leave this world alone” and “George Bush find yourself another home.”
But, “After concluding our Sunday night show at Lollapalooza, fans informed us that portions of that performance were missing and may have been censored by AT&T,” says the band on its site, going on that when they asked what was going on:
“AT&T informed Lollapalooza that portions of the show were in fact missing from the webcast, and that their content monitor had made a mistake in cutting them.
“This, of course, troubles us as artists but also as citizens concerned with the issue of censorship and the increasingly consolidated control of the media.”
Have you come across similar examples of censorship? If you have, the band wants to know.
For now, “AT&T’s actions strike at the heart of the public’s concerns over the power that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media,” says Pearl Jam on its site, going on:
Aspects of censorship, consolidation, and preferential treatment of the internet are now being debated under the umbrella of “NetNeutrality.” Check out The Future of Music or Save the Internet for more information on this issue.
Most telecommunications companies oppose “net neutrality” and argue that the public can trust them not to censor..
Even the ex-head of AT&T, CEO Edward Whitacre, whose company sponsored our troubled webcast, stated just last March that fears his company and other big network providers would block traffic on their networks are overblown..
“Any provider that blocks access to content is inviting customers to find another provider.” (Marguerite Reardon, Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: March 21, 2006, 2:23 PM PST).
But what if there is only one provider from which to choose?
If a company that is controlling a webcast is cutting out bits of our performance - not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations - fans have little choice but to watch the censored version.
What happened to us this weekend was a wake up call, and it’s about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band.
The complete version of “Daughter” from the Lollapalooza performance will be posted here soon for any of you who missed it. We apologize to our fans who were watching the webcast and got shortchanged. In the future, we will work even harder to ensure that our live broadcasts or webcasts are free from arbitrary edits.
If you have examples of AT&T censoring artist performances around political content, it’s a good
thing for everyone to know about. Feel free to post examples on the official Pearl Jam Message Pit.”
Presumably, some people at AT&T believe sponsorship gives them the right to censor.
Stay tuned.
Click the mic on the right to hear David Bannister’s p2pnetcast of this story >>>>>>>> .
Also See:
site - Lollapalooza webcast: sponsored/censored by AT&T?, August 8, 2007
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August 9th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Eventually we are going to live in a boring, gray world because nobody wants to create anything for fear of offending someone.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:22 am
maybe Pearl Jam should release the performance on their website….
or would the RIAA go after them?????
August 9th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
It’s important to accept one fact about contemporary America: This is not a democracy, and certainly not a constitutional republic. America is actually a carefully concealed oligarchy. A few thousand people, mostly in government, finance, and the military-industrial complex, run this country for their own purposes.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
“Eventually we are going to live in a boring, gray world because nobody wants to create anything for fear of offending someone.”
That’s why I applaud South Park. Even though I don’t agree with their sense of humor, finding it little to crude for my tastes, I do like the lengths they go to promoting the preservation of free speech.