Telecom companies are fond of claiming the cost for long distance calling and other services they offer have plummeted in recent years, largely due to new competition spurred by the government’s wholesale deregulation of their industry. But a new study by a group called Teletruth says the long distance rates for millions of consumers have actually risen sharply in recent years.

I’m sitting here blogging to you this morning during a session at the National Conference for Media Reform. This particular session is about – you guessed it – blogging and the new media.

We're blogging to you live today from the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis. This is the third NCMR conference and the biggest yet, with more than 3,000 media activists, journalists and various hangers on attending the three days of speeches, seminars and schmoozing about everything from net neutrality to media ownership.

Suppose you have been a victim of so-called "pretexting," where someone posing as you has gotten your phone company to release your calling records to them. Should the phone company actually figure out they had given your calling information to someone other you – let's say a criminal – you would naturally assume they would notify you immediately, right? Not so fast, the U.S. Department of Justice says.

Still flush with good feelings from our holiday break, my heart warmed this week when I learned the Federal Communications Commission had posted dozens of its studies on media ownership on its web site. Turns out we were all "Grinched" by the FCC, however.