<p>As you probably have heard by now- AT&T censored Pearl Jam at Lollopolooza Sunday- during a live webcast of their performance.</p>
<p>Lyrics that were deleted were critical of George Bush- * what a surprise- Vedder campaigned for Nader a few years back- I don’t think I have ever heard him say anything positive about our current president*
But the funny thing is, I have heard much worse on network television ( and radio & cable)- so I didn’t expect that the webcast would be censored- ( although Vedder did arrange for the Iraq veteran featured in [Body of War](<a href=“http://www.bodyofwar.com/”>http://www.bodyofwar.com/</a>) to be present on stage).</p>
<p>Now you may not agree with Vedders politics, and I know there are some who feel that “entertainers” should just “entertain”
( Which would leave Bob Dylan pretty much without a career)
But those who would censor, aren’t interested in just censoring the view from the left, they want to prescreen everything- kinda like how some textbooks are written nowdays :p</p>
<p>I don’t want the net to become like network television/newspapers/radio etc., where much of the information we can get is “owned” by three or four companies ( not sure if that is an exageration for emphasis or not), and regulated by the government for “acceptable” content.</p>
<p>Now I recognize that this particular instance, very well have been an error of an overzealous Tool fan, but ironically it is bringing more publicity to the issue of [net</a> neutrality](<a href=“http://www.futureofmusic.org/]net”>http://www.futureofmusic.org/)</p>
<p>[what was censored](<a href=“http://seattlest.com/2007/08/09/bye_george_att.php”>http://seattlest.com/2007/08/09/bye_george_att.php</a>)</p>