I had the opportunity to sit down with Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative, after he delivered his keynote address at the Alliance for Community Media 2010 conference in Pittsburgh. In this series of videos, Sascha discusses a number of topics:

1. On Digital Feudalism
What is digital feudalism? An explanation of enclosed private systems and the push for opening up critical infrastructures to a public commons.

2. Building Your Own Internet
The benefits of community-owned broadband infrastructures (such as ongoing fiber-optic initiatives by the Bay Area Video Coalition and in Lafayette, La.), and the obstacles to building out services posed by incumbent providers.

3. Four Action Items
An overview of the four action items presented during the ACM 2010 keynote address: e-rate reform, universal service fund reform, opening up of the low-frequency TV band for public use, and grassroots mobilization among PEG centers to counteract telecom lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

4. PEG and Community Media Centers
The role of PEG and community media centers in a functioning democratic society, and the critical need to fight the systematic de-funding of institutions for participatory media.