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Art Brodsky
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Art Brodsky is the communications director for Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest group, and is a veteran of Washington, D.C. telecommunications and Internet journalism and public relations.

Art worked for 16 years with Communications Daily, a leading trade publication. He covered Congress through the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other major pieces of legislation. He also covered telephone regulation at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and at state regulatory commissions. In addition, he has covered the online industry since before there was an Internet, coming in just after videotext died but before the World Wide Web. Art was later an editor with Congressional Quarterly, with responsibilities for the daily and Web coverage of telecom, tech and other issues. He also worked at newspapers around the country. Art’s work has appeared in publications as diverse as the Washington Post, TomPaine.com and the World Book encyclopedia. He was a commentator on the public radio program, Marketplace, and appeared on C-SPAN.

On the PR front, Art worked as communications director for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and for the Washington, D.C. office of Qwest Communications International.

Art graduated from the University of Maryland in December 1973 with High Honors and a degree in government and politics. He received an MSJ degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in June 1975. He and his wife, Liz, live in Olney, MD. They have two daughters.

Blog Entries by Art Brodsky

The Jack Nicholson Answer to Hollywood Moguls on SOPA and PIPA: 'You Can't Handle the Truth'

3 Comments | Posted February 6, 2012 | 2/6/12

Earlier today (Feb. 6), a most extraordinary group of people sent a letter to Capitol Hill, in the latest round of the fight over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), telling Congress it was time to reject the well-worn lobbying...

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An AT&T/Verizon Story: Why Nothing Is Ever 'Over' in Washington

12 Comments | Posted January 31, 2012 | 1/31/12

This is a great week for taking a step back for a good look at how Washington works.  It's also a great demonstration of that wonderful saying, "It's never over until it's over.  And it's never over."

On the menu are AT&T's failed takeover of T-Mobile, a bill to...

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PIPA And SOPA Were Stopped, But the Web Hasn't Won

18 Comments | Posted January 25, 2012 | 1/25/12

Here is the first sentence from a news story about what's going on in Washington:  "California's two most prominent and powerful industries -- Silicon Valley and Hollywood -- are at war in Washington." 

 That sounds about right, given the recent turn of events over the Protect...

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Movie Flops Are Driving Internet-Killing Bills in Congress

87 Comments | Posted January 12, 2012 | 1/12/12

In the next couple of weeks, Congress will come back to Washington to start debating, once again, legislation that would severely limit innovation online, limit free speech and weaken cybersecurity, all in the name of protecting the big content companies. Yes, those are the dreaded Stop Online Piracy...

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Yes, Virginia, Consumers Won a Couple in Washington

2 Comments | Posted December 23, 2011 | 12/23/11

Treasure this past week in Washington. It's not often -- no, it never happens -- that that consumers get a multitude of good tidings from Washington. Is it too much to hope that this is the start of a trend? Of course. The FCC then approved AT&T's purchase...

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With All The Attention on AT&T, It's Verizon Stealing The Show

2 Comments | Posted December 9, 2011 | 12/9/11

If corporations were people, here's a bit of advice: Don't enter into a Survivor game if Verizon is a contestant. Verizon shows an uncanny ability to get what it wants with a minimum of fuss, even if it means cutting out erstwhile partners.

AT&T, on the other hand, is a...

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Congress Grills Muppets Over 'Leftist' Leanings, Personal Relationships

Posted December 6, 2011 | 12/6/11

A contentious hearing broke out yesterday on Capitol Hill when the House Select Committee To Protect American Culture followed up on the Fox News story asserting the new Muppets movie, and the Muppets in general, had a leftist, anti-corporate agenda.

Committee members leveled a variety of pointed questions...

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How AT&T's Takeover of T-Mobile Went Wrong (Or Didn't)

Posted December 2, 2011 | 12/2/11

AT&T hasn't yet formally surrendered in its campaign to pay $39 billion for T-Mobile, and may not for a while. Its top officials are still making provocative, pugnacious pronouncements, whinging about its unfair treatment at the hands of regulators, while repeating arguments that have all but been discredited and dispensing...

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Think the FCC Killed AT&T's Plan to Take Over T-Mobile? Not So Fast

Posted November 23, 2011 | 11/23/11

With any other company, in any other merger, the action the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced on Tuesday would be the signal that a deal is dead. But when one of the parties involved is AT&T, the rules don't apply.

To recap, on Nov. 22, the FCC announced...

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Hollywood Takes Over the Online Space: Shopping Paralyzed Worldwide

Posted November 18, 2011 | 11/18/11

In April of last year I, like many millions of people, was engaged in reading Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, starting with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which is now being made into a film for the second time. (The Swedish version was fabulous; Hollywood's come out...

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News for all the People: An Unflattering Portrait of Race and American Media

Posted November 3, 2011 | 11/3/11

WTOP-FM is literally at the top of the radio heap in Washington, D.C. The all-news station is the top revenue-producing station in the country, billing $57.2 million last year, the only station in the top 10 not in Los Angeles (which had the number two station), New York...

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Praying for Zoning Reality in Olney

Posted October 30, 2011 | 10/30/11

Earlier today, about 50 people took a drive down Emory Church Road, a quiet little street in Olney, MD. The road is 24 feet wide at its widest, 14 feet wide through most of its length. Located in the last remaining really rural portion of Olney, Emory Church...

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The FCC Could Create Thousands of Jobs -- But Won't

Posted October 20, 2011 | 10/20/11

If it wanted to, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could create tens of thousands of jobs. But it doesn't want to.

If it wanted to, Congress could let the FCC create tens of thousands of jobs. But Congress doesn't want to. (In fact, Congress is contemplating actions that could thwart...

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Senators' Choice: Their Constituents Future or Big Telecom. Hmmm...

Posted October 6, 2011 | 10/6/11

In a few weeks, quite a few members of the United States Senate will have a choice. They either:

a) make sure that their constituents, particularly those in rural areas, will have a chance to participate in a 21st century economic and educational system or

b) follow rigid...

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No, Eric Schmidt, Google Doesn't Get It (And They Aren't Alone)

Posted September 23, 2011 | 9/23/11

There were heaps of irony, and not a little schadenfreude, when Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt got himself a bi-partisan grilling before the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, just two days before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formally released its rules governing an Open Internet.

The...

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Another AT&T Breakup Could Be In The Cards

Posted September 22, 2011 | 9/22/11

U.S. Dist. Judge Ellen Huvelle made it clear yesterday she will be a strict traffic cop for the Justice Department's challenge to AT&T's takeover of T-Mobile. The trial will start next Feb. 13, splitting the difference between AT&T, which wanted a January start, and DoJ, which wanted March, and take...

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Monty Python Explains AT&T's Latest Moves

Posted September 9, 2011 | 9/9/11

There's no doubt that Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a comedy classic. Those who have appreciation of such things should watch it, and those who show classic films to their kids (and you know who you are) should definitely put it on their lists.

Take a minute (1:49...

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The Pebble in the Shoe of the Communications Workers Strike Against Verizon

Posted August 11, 2011 | 8/11/11

There are two ways to look at the Communications Workers of America (CWA) strike against Verizon, mirror images of each other. (The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers also is striking, but CWA is the main labor voice.)

First: Why should the striking workers have it better than everyone else?...

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Internet Rationing Latest Threat to Watching Video Online

Posted August 2, 2011 | 8/2/11

AT&T's announcement that it would start to throttle the "heaviest users" on its wireless network is only the latest in a series of developments that place the idea of a thriving, useful Internet at risk. (This is the same AT&T that wants to spend $39 billion buying competitor...

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Labor Leader's Lament: 'Where Are the Jobs' AT&T Promised?

Posted July 14, 2011 | 7/14/11

While most of the labor union leadership has decided to blindly follow AT&T off of a cliff in the company's quest to conquer T-Mobile, it's refreshing to find that someone who has finally, if too late, saw the light. He, apparently alone, recognized the value of AT&T's promises of new...

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