Benton's Communications-related Headlines For Monday June 26, 2006
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NEWS FROM CONGRESS
Network Neutrality Debate Postponed
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Lawmaker urges action against newspapers
Judge to decide on AT&T spying suit
Court Review of Wiretaps May Be Near, Senator Says
NEWS FROM THE FCC
FCC might impose restrictions on sale of Adelphia
FCC Head 'in Bed' With Business
INTERNET
What if They Built an Urban Wireless Network and Hardly Anyone Used It?
NEWS FROM CONGRESS
NETWORK NEUTRALITY DEBATE POSTPONED
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable 6/23, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The fate of the Senate's video franchise/telecom reform bill grew
cloudier Thursday as votes on a raft of amendments were put off until
next week and Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
reportedly questioned whether he had the votes to block a filibuster
on the floor. Thursday's markup of a bill that would streamline the
video franchising process was expected to go deep into the day but
ended after only a couple of hours. Sen Stevens had also suggested it
might re-start Friday morning, but with no floor votes scheduled for
Friday and some Senators' travel plans already made, according to a
staffer, he postponed further action on the bill until Tuesday June
27. The most contentious of close to 100 amendments that may be
considered is one toughening network neutrality rules. Big computer
companies want specific regulations preventing networks from blocking
sites or favoring their own content or that of content providers who
pay up for preferred service.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6346446?display=Breaking+News
* Senate Panel Delays Neutrality Vote
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6346440.html?display=Breaking+News
* Panel Tackles Internet Phone Regulations
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-IOCE1151058862878.html
See also:
* No Neutral Ground in This Internet Battle
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/25/AR200606...
(requires registration)
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
LAWMAKER URGES ACTION AGAINST NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR:Devlin Barrett]
House Homeland Security Committee Pete King (R-NY) urged the Bush
administration on Sunday to seek criminal charges against newspapers
that reported on a secret financial-monitoring program used to trace
terrorists. He cited The New York Times in particular for publishing
a story last week that the Treasury Department was working with the
CIA to examine messages within a massive international database of
money-transfer records. He also said he would write Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales urging that the nation's chief law enforcer "begin
an investigation and prosecution of The New York Times -- the
reporters, the editors and the publisher."
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060626/a_king26.art.htm
* See also
Congressman Wants NY Times Prosecuted
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-paper26jun26,1,2...
JUDGE TO DECIDE AT&T SPYING SUIT
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com 6/23, AUTHOR: Greg Sandoval ]
A U.S. District Court judge must decide whether to throw out a
lawsuit alleging that AT&T improperly handed over records of customer
phone calls and e-mails to the federal government. Vaughn Walker, a
U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California in San
Francisco, heard arguments Friday from AT&T and the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, the advocacy group that has accused the giant
telecommunications company, in a lawsuit filed in January, of
assisting the National Security Agency in warrantless electronic
surveillance of U.S. citizens. In a statement issued after the
hearing before Walker, AT&T said that regardless of whether it worked
with the government in this instance, it would be exempt from the
lawsuit because Congress has provided immunity to companies that
cooperate with the government on "critical national security issues."
AT&T hasn't confirmed or denied working with the government. The EFF
calls the government surveillance the "largest fishing expedition
ever devised" and contends that AT&T has violated the privacy of
millions of Americans. "The surveillance program demonstrates a
massive disregard for every American's most basic privacy," said
Robert Fram, one of the attorneys who argued before Walker on EFF's
behalf. "The government has stepped in to prevent the evaluation of
that program by contending that it involves 'state secrets,' without
any reasonable justification. We need judicial supervision of this
surveillance program so that we can have both security against
terrorism and protection of civil liberties."
http://news.com.com/Judge+to+decide+on+AT38T+spying+suit/2100-1028_3-608...
COURT REVIEW OF WIRETAPS MAY BE NEAR, SENATOR SAYS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Anne Kornblut]
Senator Arlen Specter said Sunday that the White House and Congress
were close to reaching a resolution on submitting a National Security
Agency wiretap program to judicial review. "I think there is an
inclination to have it submitted to the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court, and that would be a big step forward for
protection of constitutional rights and civil liberties," Mr.
Specter, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/washington/26bank.html
(requires registration)
NEWS FROM THE FCC
FCC MIGHT IMPOSE RESTRICTIONS ON SALE OF ADELPHIA
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
Regulators appear set to impose conditions on the proposed sale of
Adelphia Communications to Comcast and Time Warner to ensure that the
cable operators provide their sports programming to satellite TV
rivals at reasonable prices. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's proposal to
clear the $17.6 billion sale of the troubled cable operator with
conditions was delivered to the agency's four commissioners late last
week. The proposal could restrain Comcast's and Time Warner's power
to dominate new markets after they carve up Adelphia, and it could
force them to cut their charges to satellite companies for sports
programming. The cable operators propose to split Adelphia's 5.2
million subscribers and swap some systems to consolidate markets.
Chairman Martin's proposal would force the two cable giants to enter
binding arbitration if they could not agree with pay-TV operators on
the prices for showing big-league sports to audiences in the teams'
home regions. In Chicago, DirecTV has said it pays Comcast's sports
network exorbitant fees to carry the games of the Chicago Bulls,
Blackhawks, Cubs and White Sox. Martin also is recommending the
companies be barred from withholding their regional sports networks
from other pay-TV distributors. But nothing would change in the only
place Comcast now does that -- Philadelphia. Comcast owns the sports
network that shows the Phillies, Flyers and 76ers games, but it has
refused to license broadcast rights to DirecTV and EchoStar. It could
continue doing so under Martin's proposal.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060626/1b_hedgefunds26.art.htm
FCC HEAD 'IN BED' WITH BUSINESS IN MAGAZINE SPREAD
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Arshad Mohammed]
When you run an independent federal agency, you generally want to
avoid the appearance of being in bed with lobbyists or big business.
So why is Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin
standing on an unmade bed in a hotel room in a glossy magazine
photograph that also features an influential lobbyist and a
communications executive? Details magazine, which ran the picture in
its June/July issue as part of a photo essay on people influential in
the media world, showed the usually buttoned-up communications lawyer
sans jacket and tie, his shirt open at the neck and his sleeves
rolled up. Perched on edge of the bed is Alex Vogel, a partner at the
high-tech lobbying firm Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti, who is playing
cards with Eric Logan, an executive at XM Satellite Radio, the
District-based company that often has matters before the FCC. The
three men are on Details' list of 21 media mavericks whom the
magazine describes as "quietly shaping your world" and "determining
what you'll be watching and listening to in the near future." FCC
spokeswoman Tamara Lipper, asked about the photograph, said only:
"We're FCC bureaucrats. We were happy to be with Ashton Kutcher." The
actor turned producer was among those featured in another photo. The
Martin photograph caused perplexity in Washington telecom circles.
Martin has a reputation as a shrewd political operator who is
disciplined in his dealings with the media. "It probably seemed okay
at the time, but in light of the flap that has ensued, I am sure
chairman Martin has come to regret taking this picture," said Andrew
Jay Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project, a public
interest law firm that often takes positions against major media
companies at the FCC. "Didn't the guy realize there is a phrase 'you
are in bed with the industry'? It is incredible," said Jeff Chester,
executive director for consumer-advocacy group Center for Digital
Democracy and a frequent critic of Martin and the agency. "I think
the chairs of the FCC should be above reproach, should have a open
mind on the issues and certainly not be seen in bed with lobbyists
metaphorically, pictorially or otherwise," Chester said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/25/AR200606...
(requires registration)
INTERNET
What if They Built an Urban Wireless Network and Hardly Anyone Used It?
WHAT IF THEY BUILT AN URBAN WIRELESS NETWORK AND HARDLY ANYONE USED IT?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ken Belson]
Despite it's ubiquity -- with 4,100 hot spot access points reaching
90 percent of the population -- just 40,000 of Taipei's 2.6 million
residents have agreed to pay for WiFly since January. Q-Ware, the
local Internet provider that built and runs the network, once
expected to have 250,000 subscribers by the end of the year, but it
has lowered that target to 200,000. That such a vast and reasonably
priced wireless network has attracted so few users in an otherwise
tech-hungry metropolis should give pause to civic leaders in Chicago,
Philadelphia and dozens of other American cities that are building
wireless networks of their own. Like Taipei, these cities hope to use
their new networks to help less affluent people get online and to
make their cities more business-friendly. Yet as Taipei has found
out, just building a citywide network does not guarantee that people
will use it. Most people already have plenty of access to the
Internet in their offices and at home, while wireless data services
let them get online anywhere using phones, laptops and P.D.A.'s. Like
Q-Ware, operators in the United States, Europe and other parts of
Asia are eager to build municipal networks. But they are grappling
with the high expectations politicians are placing on them. On June
9, MobilePro backed out of plans to develop a wireless network in
Sacramento because it said the city wanted it to offer free access
and recoup its investment with advertising, not subscriptions, a
model that other cities are hoping to adopt. Elsewhere, incumbent
carriers have challenged cities' rights to requisition new networks.
And many services have had difficulty attracting customers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/technology/26taipei.html
(requires registration)
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