The Center for Digital Democracy received a $100,000 grant from the Stern Family Fund, which provides grants to organizations working to "guarantee responsiveness" from public and private institutions that "wield substantial power" over citizens' lives.
The digital democracy center is a spin-off of the Center for Media Education and is pushing for government rules that would carry today's open Internet model into the cable broadband business by preventing service providers from favoring their own programming and interactive content over rivals that don't have their own distribution network.
Jeffrey Chester, the group's executive director, warned that without tougher government rules, the digital communications system could evolve into an "electronic toll road." Chester's group already had raised $100,000 total from three foundations.
- Bill McConnell
