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GUEST: Jeff Chester, Executive Diector from the Center for Digital Democracy, author of the new book “Digital Destiny: New Media and the Future of Democracy”

With the high profile purchases of popular websites such as Myspace.com and Youtube.com by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox and Google respectively, and with large telecom companies seeking to undermine network neutrality, the future of the internet as a democratic medium is still at stake. Internet advertising revenues, of which ten major companies account for three-quarters of, could shape the internet’s future as a medium for marketing as opposed democratic and diverse expression. As online advertising becomes increasingly intrusive, organizations such as The Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group continue to pressure the Federal Trade Commission to investigate online consumer tracking and targeting practices that threaten net users’ privacy. The future of the internet and other new media related issues are the subject of a new book authored by Jeff Chester. “Digital Destiny: New Media and the Future of Democracy,” argues that powerful economic and political interests could severely undermine the internet’s democratic potential.

For more information, visit: www.democraticmedia.org and www.thenewpress.com