We've long discussed how companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast frequently use artificial consumer-advocacy groups to argue in favor of frequently anti-consumer corporate policy positions. But these companies' lobbyists also frequently do something called "co-opting," which involves donating money to existing groups in exchange for that group parroting AT&T or Verizon policy positions. This often results in groups like the National Association For the Deaf supporting policies that frequently aren't in the best interest of the deaf, including laws advocating for the "cherry picking" of next-generation broadband services.

These faux consumer groups and co-opted legitimate groups, combined with paid lobbyists, think tanks, fake grass roots (astroturf) and other PR mechanisms, collectively form a sort of policy sound wall in Washington and in the news media. The goal is to create the illusion of a wide variety of public and (pseudo) scientific support for policies that often have very negative consequences, with one or two companies controlling the message. Minority, disability groups and even corn farmers are often used as part of this process, lending an air of humanist legitimacy to the latest telecom lobbying effort.

This is why you'll see groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) or the Arkansas Retired Seniors Coalition coming out in favor of bad laws written by telecom companies. It's also why you'll see groups supposedly dedicated to civil rights suddenly supporting Comcast in their fight against network neutrality.

With all of this as a backdrop, it's interesting to see new FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, with her focus on minority media ownership, discovering the dirtier aspects of telecom lobbying. Speaking Friday at the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council's Social Justice summit (see transcript (pdf)), Clyburn spoke to the obvious benefit unfettered broadband access brings to marginalized communities. She also politely observed how many civil rights groups weren't focusing on the core broadband availability issues facing minorities:Clyburn shouldn't be surprised. Many of these groups are silent on issues of substance for minorities because they've been co-opted by major carriers. The lure of cash contribution long ago overshadowed any substantive interest in standing up for their constituents in the field of technology. You'll recall that even former FCC boss Kevin Martin admitted as much, having had his wrist slapped in 2007 for pointing out that civil rights groups were being used by giant telecom companies as puppets on technology policy. As with many of these unethical lobbying efforts, it says volumes that few people really noticed.

Combined with her recent run in with Verizon over the carrier's phantom $2 fee scam, Clyburn's comments seem to indicate she's not going to be quite the FCC pushover some consumer advocates and progressives had predicted. You'll recall there was ample worry that Clyburn's stint as a South Carolinia regulator hinted at a strong fondness for AT&T. She has much to prove, but so far she's asking all the right questions. At the very least, she's going to deliver some much needed genuine (for once) minority input into the FCC's new effort to craft network neutrality guidelines.