MEDIA OWNERSHIP
FCC Plan to Alter Media Rules Spurs Growing Debate
Green Light for Mergers Could Result in Media Giants Dominating 100
Local Markets
INTERNET
9th Circuit Court Hears Final Open Access Arguments
Safety Patrol Readied for Dot-Kids
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
FCC PLAN TO ALTER MEDIA RULES SPURS GROWING DEBATE
With the FCC's June 2nd vote on media ownership less than a week away, Frank
Ahrens of The Washington Post offers an excellent summary of the proceedings
to this point. The piece includes a review of the statements and activities
of those in favor of and against the proposed changes, and a discussion of
the legal and economic bases for both sides' position. Ahrens also
highlights, on two separate occasions, comments submitted by individual
citizens, a topic on which the Benton Foundation opined last week. The
article concludes with an affirmation of what many in the public already
feared: the FCC has turned a deaf ear to such comments. "You don't govern
just by polls and surveys," said FCC Chairman Michael Powell. "We have to
exercise difficult judgments and abide by the law."
[SOURCE: The Washington Post; AUTHOR: Frank Ahrens]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46442-2003May27.html
GREEN LIGHT FOR MERGERS COULD RESULT IN MEDIA GIANTS
DOMINATING 100 LOCAL MARKETS
In a comprehensive critique released on Friday, the Consumer Federation of
America and Consumers Union warned that the FCC's proposal to deregulate the
media industry would "effectively gut" the Communications Act's public
interest standard and weaken protections against mergers. "Unfortunately,
the proposed rules circulated by the FCC are driven by political deals and
deregulatory ideology, not rigorous analysis or First Amendment principles,"
said Gene Kimmelman, Senior Director for Public Policy at Consumers Union.
"We do not think this is consistent with the Communications Act or the
recent court decisions on ownership rules." CFA's Mark Cooper said that the
draft order, circulated internally at the FCC, fails to include analysis of
audience size, usage patterns and other empirical evidence despite FCC
Chairman Michael Powell's claims to the contrary. CFA and CU recommend an
approach consistent with the public record in this proceeding, which calls
for rules based on "rigorous analysis of the current media market structure"
and a high public interest standard.
[SOURCE: Consumer Federation of America]
http://www.consumerfed.org/mediamergers05.22.03.html
An Executive Summary and full text of the report can be found at:
http://www.consumerfed.org/FCCcritique.05.21.03.pdf
INTERNET
9TH CIRCUIT COURT HEARS FINAL OPEN ACCESS ARGUMENTS
The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit heard final arguments earlier
this month in a case that could decide the future of high-speed Internet.
The matter of Brand X Internet Services, et al. v. FCC challenges last
year's ruling that classified cable modem service as an "information
service," which would allow cable providers to exclude smaller ISPs from
their networks. The 9th Circuit itself found cable modem service to be a
"telecommunications service" in a 2000 case. Much of the judges' questioning
to FCC lawyers focused on this distinction, particularly since dial-up
Internet access has long been considered a telecom service. If the court
rules in favor of the FCC, it could give cable companies tremendous power in
the future development of the Web.
[SOURCE: Center for Digital Democracy]
http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/washingtonwatch/openAccessArgs.html
SAFETY PATROL READIED FOR DOT-KIDS
Two Northern Virginia-based firms will be responsible for keeping the
"kids.us" domain name free of indecent content and unlawful behavior.
NeuStar, Inc., which administers the domain for the US government, will use
a combination of technological and human surveillance of the domain, hiring
Cyveillance to monitor individual addresses using its spidering technology.
While such technology is often used to conduct deep searches of the
Internet, even the most advanced spiders are unlikely to differentiate
appropriate content from inappropriate content in every instance. NeuStar,
therefore, may find itself making case-by-case decisions on whether or not a
website has complied with government requirements.
[SOURCE: The Washington Post; AUTHOR: David McGuire]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47996-2003May28.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------