May 2008

The Congress and Administration should make global Internet freedom a top human rights and foreign policy priority, CDT said today in testimony submitted to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Right and the Law. The government should closely monitor and report on global Internet freedom and factor progress in this area into criteria for development assistance and conditions for trade agreements. CDT also called for greater cooperation between the U.S. government and the technology industry to better manage human rights risks associated with offering Internet services in repressive countries.
http://cdt.org/testimony/20080520harris.pdf

Are those promos for Iron Man too intense for the tykes? The Motion Picture Association of America is being asked to decide. The Better Business Bureau referred TV ads for two Paramount films, including blockbuster Iron Man, to the MPAA to decide whether the films should have been advertised in shows targeted toward kids under 12. PG-13 Iron Man features some scenes of intense violence and was advertised during kids’ shows, said the BBB's Children's Advertising Review Unit. CARU similarly referred another Paramount film, the somewhat lower-profile Drillbit Taylor, to the MPAA for the same call.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6562814.html?rssid=193

A group of small, rural wireless-phone companies plans to escalate an attack on big rivals, trying to persuade federal regulators to outlaw the kind of exclusive deals that have limited availability of Apple's iPhone and other popular mobile devices. The Rural Cellular Association plans as early as Tuesday to file a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking the agency to investigate the use of exclusive deals that big wireless carriers such as AT&T Inc. strike to sell hot mobile phones. These deals can mean that smaller carriers can't offer the newest phones for months or years. Most Vermont residents, as well as residents in rural areas of 15 other states, can't use the iPhone because AT&T offers only roaming coverage there, and other carriers who do offer cellphone service can't sell the iPhone, according to the complaint. The trade group represents about 80 small and rural wireless companies, most serving fewer than 500,000 customers. The rural carriers' complaint could reopen a thorny issue for the large wireless carriers, which have been under increasing pressure from the FCC and Congress to give consumers more freedom to use whatever phones or gadgets they want on wireless networks.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121124652636205577.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)

Federal plans for the 2009 transition to digital television would be slightly tweaked under language affixed to the Senate version of the war supplemental spending bill. An amendment that would assist broadcasters and TV viewers in rural areas in the run-up to the transition was adopted by the Senate Appropriations Committee last week. The House passed its version of the supplemental spending bill on May 15. The Senate plans to begin debate on its bill Tuesday. The digital TV amendment was offered by senior Senate appropriators Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who are also chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
http://public.cq.com/docs/cqm/cqmidday110-000002878575.html