Barbershop Punk is an interesting story about the internet and freedom of speech, and gets you thinking about how much control internet providers have and should have over content. When Rob Topolski found out that Comcast was preventing messages of his barbershop quartet from being sent, he did some testing and posted his results online. This started the ball rolling on what ended up with him being in the centre of a media explosion, as he stumbled on a little known fact that his internet provider was secretly filtering user content which prompted a FCC investigation and a huge public debate on net neutrality and if common carriage laws should still apply over the internet.
Although there are a variety of viewpoints in the interviews in the film (musicians, magazines, actors, journalists, congressmen and more all weigh in) one is still left with a sense of foreboding. How will the current concentration of media ownership affect the content of the internet and media in general in coming years? Should cell phone providers have a right to block texts based on content? How much control do they have already? The answer is kinda scary.
Wanna know more? Check out the trailer below:
Lives In Stone 