When millions of Internet users unite, big things happen.

Earlier this year, more than 13 million people joined up to stop twin bills -- the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act (SOPA and PIPA) -- that would have irrevocably damaged the open Internet.

As those millions...

There's a new and important voice in the ongoing fight for Net Neutrality: the voice of the shareholder.

You read that right.

Today, in an unprecedented move, AT&T shareholders voted on a proposal calling on the telecom behemoth to publicly commit to Net Neutrality on its wireless networks....

Want to give the federal government and big companies new powers to spy on you?

You're in luck: There's a bill for that. 

It's called CISPA -- the "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act" -- and it's a frightening piece of legislation. It could allow for a new online spying regime,...

Q: Do you live in America?

If you answered, "yes," you can proceed directly to the "You live in a country ranked 16th in the world in broadband penetration, speed and price" section below.

You live in a country ranked 16th in the world in broadband penetration, speed and price.

Should communities have a right to decide how residents get online? It sounds like a simple question. It isn't.

The notion of self-determination is fundamental to our self-identify, our politics and the way we construct our communities. And while we all have different interpretations of what "the right to self-determination"...

[UPDATE 2/4/12] Great news. Last night, thanks to the rapid response of Free Press activists, Arizona State University lifted its blocking of student access to Change.org.

We hope ASU understands that its students' right to free speech online is paramount. Free Press has asked the university to scrutinize its...

Another year, another 12 months in which the mobile carriers did their best to screw us.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon do so many bad, annoying and anti-consumer things that it's almost impossible to document it all. So below is a catalog of simply the most egregious acts the carriers...

Are you being watched?

An independent researcher just discovered a hidden application that records what millions of people write, view and search for on their mobile phones. It sends all of that data to a company no one's ever heard of. And we have no idea what that...

Do you want to hand over even more of your hard-earned money to your phone company?

If you do, you’re in luck: The FCC has a plan for that. This week the agency is weighing a new rule that would give phone companies yet another way to reach into your pocket to...

In a recent post about the debt crisis, NPR's Frank James wrote,"What Washington was worried about and what many Americans have been haunted by has seemed out of synch in recent weeks."

Indeed, throughout weeks of political posturing about the nation's debt ceiling, millions of Americans wondered when their...

This week the Washington Post's Cecilia Kang reported that the Obama Administration is feeling "caught in the middle" between consumer advocates — like Free Press — who oppose AT&T's takeover of T-Mobile, and labor unions like the Communications Workers of America, who have come out in support of the...

Apple has apparently filed a patent for software that would sense when iPhone users are trying to use their phone's camera at live events — and disable it.

The story has been mostly discussed in terms of how this "feature" would benefit promoters and broadcasters by limiting unauthorized...

Unlimited data? It's so 2010. For AT&T, the future is in data caps.

That's why this week — in line with its recently announced wireless data plan caps — AT&T announced it will limit the amount of data its DSL and UVerse broadband subscribers can access per month.

Think there's more competition in the wireless industry, and thus better deals for consumers, just because Verizon is now carrying the iPhone? It's doubtful.

The truth is, right now the carrier cartel is squeezing consumers as much as -- if not more than -- ever before, and the sense...

According to the Chinese calendar, it's the year of the Golden Tiger. But for mobile users in the US, 2010 is the Year Wireless Carriers Tried to Screw You.

Don't think the phone companies' actions warrant their own year? Check out how they've systematically conned consumers using hidden fees,...

There's simply no way to improve upon the headline for Ryan Singel's post in Wired this week: "Wireless Oligopoly Is Smother of Invention."

So instead, I'll amplify it. In his piece, Singel compares the wireless industry — unfavorably — to television and wireline Internet service providers. His basic...

Update: Karl Bode and Stacey Higginbotham describe how AT&T made its change in pricing precisely because of the new iPhone's use of more data; users think twice before downloading a video, but get charged an arm and a leg once they do.

Yay, the iPhone 4 is here....

The iPad is here, and many people love it. But, uniquely for Apple, some fans and techies aren't impressed enough to overlook that the iPad is probably the most restricted computing device to hit the personal computing market in years. Thanks to the iPad and the fourth-generation iPhone operating system,...

The word on the street is Verizon will be offering the iPhone before the end of the year.

The speculation centers on the Wall Street Journal's claim, based on anonymous sources, that this September, Apple will start producing iPhones that run on CDMA networks (the wireless network technology...