MEDIA OWNERSHIP
CDD Asks Chairman Powell to Recuse on Media Ownership Proceeding
The Urge to Merge
PRIVACY
Balancing Data Needs and Privacy
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
CDD ASKS POWELL TO RECUSE ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP PROCEEDING
In a letter to the FCC yesterday, Center for Digital Democracy executive
director Jeff Chester called for Chairman Michael Powell to recuse himself
from the media ownership proceedings scheduled for June 2. CDD argues that
the Commission has not created a sufficient record on the topic, sponsoring
studies that were attacked by the academy and failing to divulge to
Commission's plan for cable ownership regulations, which Powell cites as one
of the countervailing forces that obviate the need for media regulation.
Chester noted that previous Democratic leadership is also to blame for the
FCC's "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward the realities of the media
marketplace. The media companies who filed "misleading" comments with the
Commission on April 21, 2003 should be investigated, he added.
[SOURCE: Center for Digital Democracy]
http://www.democraticmedia.org/resources/filings/CDDToPowell.html
THE URGE TO MERGE
As Clear Channel Communications draws the ire of public interest activists
during this media ownership debate, the company plans to enter into another
large merger. Spanish-language TV giant Univision has filed a request with
the FCC to obtain Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation, in which Clear Channel
has a permanent stake. Critics are crying foul, suspecting that Univision
and Clear Channel will "control virtually the entire Hispanic market."
Though Clear Channel downplays its role in the merger as merely a passive
shareholder, National Hispanic Policy Institute attorney Arthur Belendiuk
claims that Clear Channel CFO Randall Mays, son of chief Lowry Mays, pushed
for the merger. While questions continue to surface concerning Clear
Channel's honestly with the federal government about its true ownership
stake in the country's media market, opponents are galled by the two
companies' reliance on their pull in government despite objections from
their viewers and listeners.
[SOURCE: San Antonio Current; AUTHOR: Gilbert Garcia]
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7944947&BRD=2318&PAG=461&dept_...
84045&rfi=6
PRIVACY
BALANCING DATA NEEDS AND PRIVACY
As the Pentagon seeks to move forward with its Total Information Awareness
system to monitor various data sources in search of patterns that suggest
terrorist activity, one woman involved with the project may emerge as a
champion of privacy. Teresa Lunt of the Palo Alto Research Center was
contracted to create a "privacy appliance" for the TIA system. The
Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency commissioned Lunt in
response to the Senate's freezing of TIA funds until the effects on
individual privacy could be properly assessed. Lunt is at the forefront of a
burgeoning field of "data privacy" in which researchers seek to scrub the
data of personally identifiable information while preserving the ability to
provide valuable social research. As critics and privacy advocates point out
the contradictory nature of building a privacy "veneer" over a system the
sole purpose of which is to examine private information, Lunt points out
that her work may not be used by the government at all but may prove useful
in the private sector, as so many DARPA research projects have in the past.
[SOURCE: The Washington Post; AUTHOR: Leslie Walker]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25316-2003May7.html
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