1. Monthly archive
  2. September 2013

September 2013

Shouldn't War Critics Get a Broadcast Response to the President's War Speech?

[Commentary] President Barack Obama will address the nation to lobby public opinion and Congress to support the Congressional authorization for war in Syria. Shouldn't broadcast media respect the right of war critics to an equal response?

No one would claim that war critics are being shut out of the media entirely. But don't we have the right to equal time on TV? Why should the President be allowed to monopolize the nation's airwaves? If this were happening in Venezuela, self-styled press freedom advocates would be having a cow. After the President's State of the Union speech, a response speech is broadcast. Why not now? I realize that the Fairness Doctrine is no longer enforced by the Federal Communications Commission. But perhaps public opinion could enforce it.

[Naimain is Policy Director at Just Foreign Policy]

Expanding Federal Telework Could Save $12 Billion a Year

Expanding federal telework programs doesn't just help federal employees and managers; it also could benefit taxpayers by as much as $12 billion per year, according to a new report.

Mapping the 'Geography' of the Internet

John Kelly, the chief scientist at Morningside Analytics, spends his days mapping the “cyber-social geography” of the Internet, analyzing who is talking to whom and what they’re talking about. While many web analytics companies focus on the users who are most influential across the entire Internet, Kelly said, his data show who’s influential in small, specific communities. This helps uncover a few interesting trends about who really gets heard in the public sphere of the Internet.

$1.9 Million in Grants Awarded to Help Individuals With Disabilities Purchase Assistive Technology

The US Department of Education announced the award of $1.9 million in grants to organizations in California, Missouri and Washington to help individuals with disabilities purchase the assistive technology they need. Under the Assistive Technology Alternative Financing Program, the funds will be used to help people with disabilities get private financing to buy services and devices.

Research

Placement: 

<ul>
<li><a href="/node/158425">Horizon Report 2013 K-12 Edition</a></li>
<li><a href="/node/158420">High-Speed Broadband in Every Classroom: The Promise of a Modernized E-Rate Program</a></li>
</ul>

Lawyer: Verizon should be able to block websites

Verizon Communications should be able to block its broadband customers from going to websites that refuse to pay the provider to deliver their traffic, a lawyer for Verizon told an appeals court.

Current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules prohibiting broadband providers from selectively blocking or slowing Web traffic go beyond the agency's authority granted by the Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Verizon lawyer Helgi Walker told judges in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Verizon is appealing FCC network neutrality rules passed in December 2010. Lawyers for the FCC and a coalition of groups that filed briefs supporting the rules faced a skeptical panel of judges. Judge David Tatel repeatedly asked lawyers for both sides if the court could uphold the FCC's antiblocking rule, preventing broadband providers from totally blocking their customers from going to some websites, while rejecting the agency's antidiscrimination rule, preventing broadband providers from giving some Web traffic preferential treatment. Sean Lev, general counsel at the FCC, rejected Verizon's claim that the network neutrality rules violate its First Amendment free speech rights. Verizon is free to publish its own websites, but it isn't acting as a speaker when carrying customers' traffic, he said. When Judge Tatel asked why Verizon, acting as a consumer broadband provider, should deliver service to websites for free, Lev said those websites pay their own broadband fees. The websites are "not requesting service from Verizon," he said.

Google, Facebook ask FISA for permission to release information on government requests

Google and Facebook said that they, along with other tech firms, have submitted an amended petition to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court asking for permission to publish more information about the requests they receive from the government.

Several companies have asked the surveillance court to allow them to release more information about these requests in an effort to increase transparency and trust with their users in the wake of revelations about surveillance programs conducted by the National Security Agency. Google said that it’s asking for permission to publish “detailed statistics about the types (if any) of national security requests” it receives under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch said that while the government has allowed companies such as Facebook to disclose some information about requests it receives from the government, the ability to be more specific would allow it to ease consumer concerns.

Car-for-hire app Uber joins The Internet Association

Car-for-hire app company Uber Technologies has joined The Internet Association, a fast-growing advocacy group in Washington (DC).

Uber joins Web leaders like Amazon, Facebook, Google and Reddit in the association, which began to lobby in Washington this year. The Internet Association spent $800,000 on lobbying in the first half of 2013. The association says it works to advance Internet freedom and advocates for issues that “foster innovation and economic development and empower users.”

Government's Ad Campaign Convinced 100,000 Smokers to Kick the Habit

The government's stop smoking advertising campaign convinced more than 200,000 Americans to kick the habit at last, of which about 100,000 will quit permanently, according to data released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost 80 percent of smokers and 75 percent of nonsmokers recalled seeing at least one of the ads that drove people to call the toll-free number 1-800-QUIT-NOW or visit a quit-assistance website.

Statement From Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn On Lifeline Awareness Week

Most of us take for granted that we can call 911 in a crisis and reach family, friends and employers when necessary. But for many low-income Americans, this basic necessity -- phone service – remains a luxury few can afford.

Ensuring access to communications for all Americans, regardless of income, is why Lifeline was launched in 1985 during the Reagan Administration, and why this commitment was codified by Congress in 1996. And that’s why the FCC has modernized and reformed Lifeline for today’s world of mobile communications while looking forward to the next challenge: providing affordable access to broadband. Lifeline Awareness Week is a time for us to appreciate what a lifeline the program has been for the neediest Americans – and to share our vision of a lifeline to jobs, education, health and opportunity through affordable broadband access for all.

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