June 1, 2015 (Key Parts of Patriot Act Expire)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2015
This week’s events https://www.benton.org/calendar/2015-05-31--P1W
NSA REFORM
Key Parts of Patriot Act Expire Temporarily as Senate Moves Toward Limits on Spying
A Gap in Surveillance, but Ways Around It
Sen Rand Paul Takes On ‘Eye Roll’ Caucus to Oppose Data Gathering in Patriot Act [links to web]
The Sun Must Set on Mass Surveillance - Timothy Karr op-ed [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC Moves to Make Broadband More Affordable - Kevin Taglang analysis
Republicans Attack FCC Plan to Pay for Internet Access for the Poor
Also see: Fox Returns To Obamaphone Myth Weeks After President Obama Mocked Them For It [links to web]
5 Things Everyone Should Know About Broadband Access in Rural America. - op-ed by Sens Thune and Klobuchar
The World’s Coming Broadband Divide - Quentin Hardy analysis
Better broadband at better prices? Welcome to Charter CEO's fantasy - David Lazarus analysis
AT&T wants to choose which online video services count against data caps
Google Details New Project Loon Tech to Keep Its Internet Balloons Afloat [links to web]
Internet Governance Follies - L Gordon Crovitz/WSJ editorial [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC Seeks Comment on the State of Mobile Wireless Competition - public notice
Continuing Efforts to Measure and Report on Mobile Wireless Competition - press release
TV/RADIO
FCC Needs A Broadcast Attitude Adjustment - Harry Jessell editorial
ACA Backs Easing Ability to Rebut New Presumption [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Some Votes Against Media Merger Mania
Charter-TWC Merger May Force TV Networks to Combine as Well [links to web]
Comcast under fire for possible violations before NBCU purchase
AT&T, DirecTV Assure FCC They Will Promote Online Video Distribution
Public Knowledge's Kimmelman: Charter/TWC Lacks Same Problems of Comcast/TWC [links to web]
Exploring the Amazon [links to web]
Better broadband at better prices? Welcome to Charter CEO's fantasy - David Lazarus analysis
Cashing In on a Charter-Time Warner Cable Merger [links to web]
For Charter Communications Chief, Time Warner Cable Is a Long-Sought Prize [links to web]
PRIVACY
FTC Approves Final Orders In US-EU Safe Harbor Cases - press release
Here’s how presidential campaigns track who you are and what you do [links to web]
CHILDREN AND MEDIA
New FTC Graphic Highlights Key Information About Mobile Apps for Kids - press release [links to web]
ADVERTISING/MARKETING
Washington Bans Political Ads From Public Transit [links to web]
See also: Don’t Censor My Commute - op-ed [links to web]
Answering your questions about endorsements - FTC press release [links to web]
FTC Approves Final Order Settling Charges Against Epic Marketplace, Inc. - press release [links to web]
JOURNALISM
Fox Returns To Obamaphone Myth Weeks After President Obama Mocked Them For It [links to web]
ACCESSIBILITY
FCC Disability Advisory Committee Announcement of Next Meeting - public notice
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
CBO Scores the State Wide Interoperable Communications Enhancement Act - research
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
CBO Scores the ALERT Act of 2015 - research
10K websites block Congress in Patriot Act protest [links to web]
Pentagon chief joins Facebook [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Irish Media, Fearing Lawsuits, Steers Clear of a Billionaire
As Insults Fly in the Greek and German Media, Some Wish for Less News [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Can technology offer solutions to inequality? - Kentaro Toyama op-ed [links to web]
NSA REFORM
KEY PARTS OF PATRIOT ACT EXPIRE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jennifer Steinhauer, Jonathan Weisman]
The government’s authority to sweep up vast quantities of phone records in the hunt for terrorists expired at 12:01 a.m. June 1 after Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) blocked an extension of the program during an extraordinary and at times caustic Sunday session of the Senate. Still, the Senate signaled that it was ready to curtail the National Security Agency’s bulk data collection program with likely passage this week of legislation that would shift the storage of telephone records from the government to the phone companies. The House overwhelmingly passed that bill in May. Senators voted, 77 to 17, on May 31 to take up the House bill. Paul’s stand may have forced the temporary expiration of parts of the post-9/11 Patriot Act used by the National Security Agency to collect phone records, but he was helped by the miscalculation of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who sent the Senate on a weeklong vacation after blocking the House bill before Memorial Day. Sen McConnell relented May 31, setting up a final round of votes on June 2 or June 3 that will most likely send a compromise version of the House bill to President Barack Obama for his signature. Even Sen Paul, using the procedural weapon of an objection, conceded he could not stop that.
benton.org/headlines/key-parts-patriot-act-expire-temporarily-senate-moves-toward-limits-spying | New York Times | WashPost | WSJ | FT
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A GAP IN SURVEILLANCE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charlie Savage]
For the first time since the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Americans will again be free to place phone calls — to friends, lovers, business associates, political groups, doctors and pizza restaurants — without having logs of those contacts vacuumed up in bulk by the National Security Agency. And for the first time in nearly 14 years, if government agents identify new phone numbers that they suspect are linked to terrorism, they will have to subpoena phone companies for associated calling records and wait for the response to see if anyone in the United States has been in contact with that number. The NSA can no longer simply query its database for the information. This unusual situation may last only a few days, until Congress can reach an accommodation over three counterterrorism laws. Nonetheless, the fact that Congress allowed the laws to lapse — the most important of them is the purported legal basis for the bulk records collection program — is an extraordinary moment in the story of the tensions between post-9/11 policies and privacy rights. It has led to heated warnings in the political realm about exposing the country to heightened risk of attack.
benton.org/headlines/gap-surveillance-ways-around-it | New York Times
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC MOVES TO MAKE BROADBAND MORE AFFORDABLE
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] Cost. Literacy. Relevance. Time and again research identifies these three barriers to broadband adoption. On May 28, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed to modernize the FCC’s Lifeline program to address the first great barrier: cost. “I am circulating new proposals to ‘reboot’ Lifeline for the Internet age,” said Chairman Wheeler as he announced a proposal now being reviewed by his fellow FCC commissioners. “A world of broadband ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is a world where none of us will have the opportunity to enjoy the full fruits of what broadband has to offer.” Here’s what the proposal looks like – and the reaction it’s getting.
https://www.benton.org/blog/fcc-moves-make-broadband-more-affordable
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REPUBLICANS ATTACK FCC PLAN TO PAY FOR INTERNET ACCESS FOR THE POOR
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Just months after enacting fiercely controversial network neutrality rules, the Federal Communications Commission is wading into a new political battle by unveiling a plan to subsidize Internet access for millions of poor Americans. House and Senate Republicans blasted the plan, warning that it would waste more federal money. The plan from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler would expand the agency's Lifeline program, derisively referred to as the "Obamaphone" program by Republicans (despite the fact that it was created during the Reagan administration). Republicans argue that the $1.7 billion program, which currently only subsidizes phone service, has already been plagued by fraud and has been growing out of control. "Why the FCC wants to expand this program before addressing the regular reports of ongoing fraud is beyond me," said Sen David Vitter (R-LA), a longtime critic of the program. "The FCC has failed to manage Lifeline efficiently in its current form, and I cannot support any expansion of a program that has so few safeguards in place to protect the legitimacy of the program and the American taxpayers who pay into it." FCC officials hoped that their plan might be able to win Republican support. While their plan would allow poor consumers to use Lifeline money towards their Internet bills, it wouldn't necessarily increase the overall size of the program, which is funded through fees on all phone bills.
benton.org/headlines/republicans-attack-fcc-plan-pay-internet-access-poor | National Journal
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5 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BROADBAND ACCESS IN RURAL AMERICA.
[SOURCE: Independent Journal Review, AUTHOR: Sens John Thune (R-SD), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)]
[Commentary] Broadband deployment to all corners of America is essential to building our digital economy. Here are five things you should know about broadband in rural America -- with five reminders of how outdated rural broadband laws are:
1. Universal Access to Broadband Makes America Stronger: Rural Americans form an integral part of our nation. Better broadband infrastructure means people can more easily connect with each other, access distance learning and expand their economic opportunities.
2. Rural Infrastructure is Expensive to Build and Difficult to Maintain, But the Investment is Worth It
3. Rural Americans Embrace New Technology, Too
4. Outdated Rules Hurt Rural America: Outdated rules effectively require rural Americans to pay for a traditional landline -- even if they no longer want one -- in order to get broadband services. These rules particularly disadvantage low-income consumers by putting the price of broadband out of reach unless they pay for additional, duplicative landline phone service.
5. A Common-Sense Fix is Available: As we move forward, we cannot allow existing broadband networks to wither or for rural Americans to go underserved. Solving the “stand-alone broadband” issue is a common-sense reform and 59 of our Senate colleagues agree with our demand that the FCC act now to solve this problem.
benton.org/headlines/5-things-everyone-should-know-about-broadband-access-rural-america | Independent Journal Review
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THE WORLD’S COMING BROADBAND DIVIDE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Quentin Hardy]
Several recent events pointed out how much business success, economic development and even international competition is starting to depend on once unimaginably fast Internet speeds:
Charter Communications announced that it would spend, in two separate deals, a combined $67.1 billion to buy Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. A big reason for the deal was the opportunity to offer faster online services.
The Federal Communications Commission circulated a plan to include broadband in a $1.7 billion program that subsidizes landline and mobile phone services to 12 million low-income households in the United States.
Mary Meeker said that 34 percent of the work force in the United States, 53 million people, now consider themselves independent contractors, short-term hires or other kinds of freelancers. Of these, she said, two-thirds believe that the Internet makes it easier for them to find work, and 41 percent have done online projects.
Cisco Systems released its annual projections of Internet traffic over the next five years. Average speeds for standard landline networks, 21.8 mps in both North America and in Western Europe in 2014, will increase to over 40 mps in 2019, Cisco said. A big reason for the increase will be video.
The uneven global upgrades are not just a question of wealth. Eastern Europe already has wired speeds like its more-developed neighbors, and is projected to have the world’s fastest Wi-Fi and mobile networks. China’s fixed broadband speeds are expected to be faster than those in Spain, and just less than in Britain. And where that broadband gets upgraded, expect economic opportunity to follow.
benton.org/headlines/worlds-coming-broadband-divide | New York Times
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BETTER BROADBAND AT BETTER PRICES? WELCOME TO CHARTER CEO'S FANTASY
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Lazarus]
To hear the chief executive of Charter Communications tell it, his company's acquisition of Time Warner Cable will mean a better broadband experience for all. "We'll offer consumers a broadband product that makes watching online video, gaming and engaging in other data-hungry applications a great experience, including at peak times," Tom Rutledge said after the planned merger was announced. In short, he said, consumers can look forward to "better products at better prices." As best as I can tell, he wasn't trying to be funny. "When it comes to cable consolidation, history teaches us to be very concerned about the benefits for consumers," said Delara Derakhshani, policy counsel for Consumers Union. "Prices for cable and broadband continue to go up, and customer service is dismal." Oxnard resident Barclay Totten has similar concerns that highlight some consumers' questions about the broadband market. He received an offer from Time Warner Cable recently to more than double his broadband speed for an extra $10 a month. Wait a minute, Totten thought. Doesn't the government have rules about that? He went to the website of the Federal Communications Commission, where he learned that service providers such as Time Warner Cable and Charter can't "block, impair or establish fast/slow lanes to lawful content." Totten filed a complaint with the FCC saying that charging a higher price for faster service was tantamount to creating a broadband fast lane. The agency, he said, never responded.
benton.org/headlines/better-broadband-better-prices-welcome-charter-ceos-fantasy | Los Angeles Times
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AT&T WANTS TO CHOOSE WHICH ONLINE VIDEO SERVICES COUNT AGAINST DATA CAPS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
AT&T doesn't want any rules preventing it from choosing which online video services count against its customers' data caps. AT&T's "Sponsored Data" program already charges businesses, often in the ad industry, for the right to deliver services without counting against customers' mobile data caps. AT&T could potentially charge online video streaming services for exemptions from the caps imposed on AT&T home broadband subscribers as well or exempt its own online services from caps. Though AT&T doesn't appear to have done this yet, the company asked the Federal Communications Commission to make sure it's allowed to do so. AT&T's request came after a group of companies and consumer advocacy organizations asked the Federal Communications Commission to prevent AT&T from granting data cap exemptions. "To the extent that AT&T uses usage-based tracking, metering, or billing on its Broadband Internet Access Service, it shall not exempt any video service offered over broadband from such tracking, metering, or billing," said a May 12 filing by Cogent, Dish, Free Press, New America's Open Technology Institute, and Public Knowledge. The groups proposed that the FCC add that text as a condition on AT&T's proposed acquisition of satellite TV provider DirecTV. Separately, Netflix has argued that AT&T could use data caps and usage-based pricing methods to "advantage its own services" and "slow the development" of online video providers that compete against traditional pay-TV.
benton.org/headlines/att-wants-choose-which-online-video-services-count-against-data-caps | Ars Technica
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON THE STATE OF MOBILE WIRELESS COMPETITION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public notice]
The Federal Communications Commission seeks input on competition in the mobile wireless marketplace for the Federal Communications Commission's Eighteenth Annual Report on the State of Competition in Mobile Wireless, including Commercial Mobile Radio Services. The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau seeks to update the information and metrics used in the Seventeenth Report, as well as enhance the FCC's analysis of competition in the mobile wireless marketplace for the Eighteenth Report. This Notice seeks comment and information on competitive dynamics within the mobile wireless marketplace, for example, with respect to the number of subscribers and financial indicators such as revenue or profitability. In addition, we seek comment and information on overall industry metrics such as coverage, including by spectrum band, technology, geography, and demographics. We also seek comment and information on upstream (e.g., spectrum) segments as well as on consumer behavior with respect to mobile wireless services, including consumer usage, handsets, mobile applications, and intermodal developments such as mobile-wireline substitution. Further, we seek comment and information on pricing levels and trends and other non-price factors on which service providers compete, as well as on performance metrics for mobile broadband networks, such as speed and latency, including the methodologies used for assessment. Finally, we also ask parties to comment on whether the metrics provided in the Seventeenth Report were sufficient for analyzing competition in the mobile wireless marketplace in a useful and timely manner, or whether any changes should be made for the metrics included in the Eighteenth Report.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-seeks-comment-state-mobile-wireless-competition | Federal Communications Commission
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CONTINUING EFFORTS TO MEASURE AND REPORT ON MOBILE WIRELESS COMPETITION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Wireless Telecom Bureau Chief Roger Sherman]
[Commentary] The Communications Act requires the submission to Congress each year of reports analyzing the state of competition in the mobile wireless industry. The Seventeenth Mobile Wireless Competition Report was released in December 2014. On May 29, we are updating many of those charts and tables based on recently collected data relevant to competition in the mobile wireless industry. For example, we are providing information on total wireless connections by service segment; overall mobile voice and mobile broadband coverage; and provider-specific coverage. And, we have also added user-friendly interactive coverage maps. This mid-year update reflects our newly focused efforts to capture important details in the evolving mobile wireless marketplace. Among other things, the updated information shows:
Total wireless connections increased by 23.5 million from 2013 to 2014, with 14.7 million connections added between the 2nd and 4th quarter of 2014
The post-paid market continues to show noteworthy growth with 3.9 million connections added in the 4th quarter 2014
Quarterly net adds for connected devices almost doubled between the 4th quarter 2013 and 4th quarter 2014.
benton.org/headlines/continuing-efforts-measure-and-report-mobile-wireless-competition | Federal Communications Commission
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TV/RADIO
FCC NEEDS A BROADCAST ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Harry Jessell]
[Commentary] Instead of looking at broadcasting as an antiquated service that should be stripped for spectrum, the Federal Communications Commission needs to start seeing it for what it is -- an elegantly simple and inexpensive means of keeping every citizen in the national conversation. Instead of imposing burdensome new rules or tightening up restrictive old rules, the FCC should look for ways to lighten the regulatory load and strengthen the medium.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-needs-broadcast-attitude-adjustment | TVNewsCheck
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OWNERSHIP
SOME VOTES AGAINST MEDIA MERGER MANIA
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Jon Lafayette]
Mergers are top of mind in the TV business today, but completing potential deals will not be easy. Analyst Rich Greenfield of BTIG Research doesn't think the big cable merger now on the table will pass muster with government regulators. Comcast withdrew its offer for Time Warner Cable because it couldn't overcome regulatory concerns about broadband concentration, but Charter Communications, which is looking to buy TWC and Bright House, thinks it has a better chance partly because it's smaller than Comcast. "Given the FCC's public statements and thinking through how the Department of Justice will look at market concentration, we have a very hard time seeing how the government will allow Charter, Time Warner and Bright House to join together," says Greenfield. If somehow Charter convinces the government to give the deal a go ahead, Greenfield foresees conditions being put on the combined company. One is that the new bigger Charter must agree to accept network neutrality and reclassification as a Title II carrier as part of its deal. Regulators might also require the cable giants to overbuild one another to create competition for consumers. Greenfield thinks it unlikely that Charter would accept such a condition.
benton.org/headlines/some-votes-against-media-merger-mania | Broadcasting&Cable
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COMCAST UNDER FIRE FOR POSSIBLE VIOLATIONS BEFORE NBCU PURCHASE
[SOURCE: New York Post, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson]
Federal regulators are weighing taking action against Comcast for allegedly violating 2011 agreements that enabled the cable giant to buy NBCUniversal. Apparently, the allegations were made during the public comment period of the review of Comcast’s now defunct plan to acquire Time Warner Cable and officials at both the Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department have spent the past few weeks sifting through those claims. In some instances, Comcast agreed not to take certain actions, like interfere in another company’s actions -- and Comcast agreed to support certain initiatives, sources said. “They’re siting on a ton of potential evidence,” one source close to the process, explained. “They’re asking themselves if they can create a separate proceeding or whether they need a new complaint to allow [the evidence] to be introduced.” Alleged complaints being parsed by regulators include:
Comcast tied linear programming negotiations with digital deals -- forcing programmers to sell to Comcast digital rights to their content on the same or better terms than they sold it to other online video distributors -- when they promised not to.
Some minority-focused channels complained they were given carriage deals on Comcast systems but that they were not made widely available enough to support a real business.
NBCUniversal’s just-announced deal to use Comcast set-top box data to help it win advertising creates an uneven playing field.
Comcast’s alleged comments that Hulu, which it co-owns, should not be sold by its other owners -- 21st Century Fox and Disney -- allegedly broke an agreement not to interfere with the running of the digital video service.
benton.org/headlines/comcast-under-fire-possible-violations-nbcu-purchase | New York Post
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AT&T, DIRECTV ASSURE FCC THEY WILL PROMOTE OVD
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
AT&T has clearly gotten the message that access to over-the-top video competition is a key issue for the Federal Communications Commission in its review of the proposed merger with DirecTV. In a meeting with FCC officials about the deal, most of a dozen executives from both companies told the FCC that they had "strong incentives" to support online video services, both as stand-alone and bundled. They also shared some confidential info on various peering, managed service and online video distributor (OVD) distribution deals it has done, and said it is pursuing others that will "ensure consumers will be able to enjoy seamless and high-quality OVD services." The FCC has yet to restart its unofficial shot clock on the deal, likely as the FCC review team tries to ensure that will be the case if the deal is approved.
benton.org/headlines/att-directv-assure-fcc-they-will-promote-online-video-distribution | Broadcasting&Cable
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PRIVACY
FTC APPROVES FINAL ORDERS IN US-EU SAFE HARBOR CASES
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
After a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved final orders resolving the Commission’s complaints against TES Franchising, LLC and American International Mailing, Inc., for deceiving consumers about their participation in international privacy frameworks. The settlements were first announced in April. In its complaints, the FTC alleged that the companies’ websites indicated they were currently certified under the US-European Union Safe Harbor Framework and, in the case of TES Franchising, the US-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework, when in fact their certifications had lapsed years earlier. In addition, the FTC alleged that TES Franchising deceived consumers about the nature of its dispute resolution policies. Under the terms of the orders, the companies are prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which they participate in any privacy or data security program sponsored by the government or any other self-regulatory or standard-setting organization. The settlement with TES further prohibits the company from misrepresenting its participation in or the terms of any alternative dispute resolution process or service. The Commission votes to approve the final orders were 5-0.
benton.org/headlines/ftc-approves-final-orders-us-eu-safe-harbor-cases | Federal Trade Commission
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ACCESSIBILITY
FCC DISABILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public notice]
The next meeting of the Federal Communications Commission's Disability Advisory Committee will take place on Tuesday, June 23, 2015, from 9:00am to 3:00pm EST, at the FCC's headquarters. At the meeting, an announcement will be made of the appointment of Claude Stout of Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. and Susan Mazrui of AT&T Services, Inc. as the new Committee Co-chairs, replacing Andrew Phillips of the National Association of the Deaf. It is also expected that the Committee will receive reports from all four subcommittees as follows:
DAC will consider a recommendation from its Relay/Equipment Distribution Subcommittee regarding modification of the speed of answer requirements for video relay service.
DAC will consider a recommendation from its Communications Subcommittee regarding ways to identify gaps in available research about the communications product and service preferences, barriers, and information needs of people with disabilities.
DAC will consider a recommendation from the emergency Communications Subcommittee to endorse the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council IV Working Group 2's report and recommendations for improvements to Wireless Emergency Alerts
DAC will receive a presentation summarizing the Video Description Rountable hosted by the Video Programming Subcommittee on June 22, 2015.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-disability-advisory-committee-announcement-next-meeting | Federal Communications Commission
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
CBO SCORES THE STATE WIDE INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS ENHANCEMENT ACT
[SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office, AUTHOR: Martin von Gnechten]
The State Wide Interoperable Communications Enhancement Act (HR 2206) would expand the application requirements for funding through the State Homeland Security Grant Program. The bill would require states to certify as part of their grant application that the state has designated a statewide interoperability coordinator to oversee the daily operations of the state’s interoperability programs. Those programs are aimed at ensuring that the communications systems of different emergency response agencies can work together. CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would have no effect on the federal budget because it would not modify the workload of the Department of Homeland Security. Enacting HR 2206 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
benton.org/headlines/cbo-scores-state-wide-interoperable-communications-enhancement-act | Congressional Budget Office
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
CBO SCORES THE ALERT ACT OF 2015
[SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office, AUTHOR: Matthew Pickford]
The ALERT Act of 2015 (HR 1759) would require federal agencies to provide certain information to the public regarding proposed and final regulations. The bill would require federal agencies to submit information for a proposed new supplement to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (a semiannual compilation of the federal regulations under development) that would be published monthly. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs would be required to post that information on the Internet on a monthly annual basis. With certain exceptions, regulations would not be effective until six months after they have appeared in the proposed monthly report. CBO estimates that preparing the monthly supplemental reports for 3,000 to 4,000 final regulations each year would cost less than a million dollars a year, subject to the availability of appropriated funds, over the 2016,2020 period. Because agencies routinely monitor the status of regulations that are being processed, CBO does not expect this additional reporting requirement would add a significant administrative burden. HR 1759 could affect direct spending by some agencies because their operating costs are covered by receipts from the sale of goods, fees, and other collections. Because most of those agencies can adjust the amounts collected, CBO estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those agencies would not be significant.
benton.org/headlines/cbo-scores-alert-act-2015 | Congressional Budget Office
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
IRISH MEDIA FEARS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stephen Castle, Douglas Dalby]
When the financial crash hit in 2008, it plunged Ireland into a crippling recession from which it has only recently stirred. But the toxic legacy of those years has not gone away, and now it has provoked another crisis, this time over media freedom. A clash between one of Ireland’s richest and best-known businessmen, Denis O’Brien, and the national broadcasting company, RTE, has reopened wounds from the crash, raising questions about conflicts of interest at the top of Irish society, and about constraints on the country’s media. At stake is whether journalists should report disputed allegations about some of the past financial dealings of Mr. O’Brien, a billionaire who amassed a fortune in the cellphone sector and has extensive media interests. The issue peaked when an Irish lawmaker, Catherine Murphy, made claims in the Irish Parliament, the Dail, about relations between O’Brien and a publicly run financial institution. Such speeches are normally covered by parliamentary privilege and can therefore be published and reported on without risk of a libel suit. Not this time. While Murphy’s comments were made public on Parliament’s website, the Irish media largely avoided repeating them.
benton.org/headlines/irish-media-fearing-lawsuits-steers-clear-billionaire | New York Times
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