BROADBAND
City-Owned Broadband Networks Fighting Corporate Telecom
OWNERSHIP
Ownership in Radio Industry Hearing Set for January 30
Commission Field Hearing on Broadcast Ownership to be Held
PRIVACY
High-Tech Monitoring Law Concerns Librarians
BROADBAND
CITY-OWNED BROADBAND NETWORKS FIGHTING CORPORATE TELECOM
Prices for broadband Internet access in rural Glasgow, Kentucky are floating
at around half the national average for services. The $25-per-month fee is
not the result of fierce competition, however. The city's public electric
utility has taken advantage of technology allowing cable TV and high-speed
Internet to travel over lines also being used to monitor power usage in the
city, allowing the city to recoup its costs faster while providing cheap
broadband service in an underserved area. Glasgow is not alone -- 511 cities
offer telecom services to resident, schools and internal government
operations, which has drawn the ire of the telecommunications industry. The
municipalities have benefited from a string of favorable court rulings
allowing them to continue to provide services where the telecom companies
have not built infrastructure.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5039749.htm)
OWNERSHIP
SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES WITNESS LIST FOR OWNERSHIP IN RADIO
INDUSTRY HEARING
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has announced the witness list for the Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation's January 30th hearing on
radio ownership rules. The tentative list is as follows: Sen. Russell
Feingold (D-WI); Mr. L. Lowry Mays, Chairman & CEO, Clear Channel
Communications, Inc.; Mr. Edward Fritts, President & CEO, National
Association of Broadcasters; Mr. Don Henley, Singer and Songwriter; Mr.
Robert Short, President, Short Broadcasting; and Ms. Jenny Toomey, Executive
Director, Future of Music Coalition
[SOURCE: Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation]
(http://commerce.senate.gov/~commerce/press/03/2003124A29.html)
COMMISSION FIELD HEARING ON BROADCAST OWNERSHIP TO BE HELD
The FCC has announced that it will hold a public hearing on media ownership
on Thursday, February 27, 2003, in Richmond, Virginia, from 10:00 AM to 4:00
PM, at a site to be determined. The focus of the hearing will be on
diversity and localism in today's media landscape; the commission will hear
testimony on factual justifications for maintaining or eliminating existing
rules. For more information on the ownership rules or the hearing itself,
please visit the link below.
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
(http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-230507A1.doc)
PRIVACY
HIGH-TECH MONITORING LAW CONCERNS LIBRARIANS
The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 has drawn a new breed of critics - librarians.
The law, which gives federal law enforcement agents increased surveillance
power, allows the FBI to monitor check-out lists and computer hard drives to
see what library patrons have been reading. At a meeting of the American
Library Association that began last Friday, librarians expressed concern
that agents have been routinely observing the reading habits of
intellectuals and activists, a practice common during the 1950s and `60s.
The Department of Justice maintains that the measure is necessary for
uncovering terrorist cells.
[SOURCE: USA Today, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-01-27-library-monitoring_x.htm)
----------------------------------------------------------------------