Press Release

[Press release] In an op-ed with Sen Roger Wicker (R-MS), Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr announced that the FCC will seek to establish a new $100 million “Connected Care Pilot Program” to support telehealth for low-income Americans, especially those living in rural areas and veterans. The FCC will vote on a Notice of Inquiry at its August Open Meeting that seeks comment on:

[Press release] Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Moran (R-KS), in a letter to Alphabet CEO Larry Page, requested information about the privacy policy and practices of Gmail email services offered through subsidiary company Google.

Two longtime advocates instrumental in shaping the media justice field will be honored October 11, 2018 at the 36th Annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture in Washington DC.

On July 6, 2018, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly wrote to Mikel Schwab, Civil Chief, Assitant US Attorney for the Department of Justice in the Districts of Guam & the NMI, regarding 911 Fee Diversion.

The House Commerce Committee sent letters to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Larry Page to probe the companies’ representation of third-party access to consumer data, and the collection and use of audio recording data as well as location information via iPhone and Android devices. The letters were signed by full committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Gregg Harper (R-MS), and Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (R-OH). 

[Press release] President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate William Bryan of Virginia to be the Under Secretary for Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security.

[Press release] The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subject listed below on Thursday, July 12, 2018: 

On July 3, 1968, the Federal Communications Commission first concluded that equal opportunity in employment was essential to the public interest, and committed to ensuring that the national policy against discrimination in hiring applied to broadcast licensees. To mark the 50th anniversary of this decision and to improve the Commission’s enforcement of its equal employment opportunity (EEO) rules, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai shared with his colleagues a proposal to shift agency staff responsible for enforcing the FCC’s EEO rules from the Media Bureau to the Enforcement Bureau.

Rep Debbie Dingell (D-MI) continued to urge the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether consumers’ viewing and other personal information was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. Rep Dingell followed-up with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and FTC Commissioner Joseph Simmons to stress the importance of protecting consumers privacy amongst news that Cambridge Analytica improperly collected and shared information from set-top cable boxes.

We are asking a court to declare the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (“FOSTA”) unconstitutional and prevent it from being enforced.  The law was written so poorly that it actually criminalizes a substantial amount of protected speech and, according to experts, actually hinders efforts to prosecute sex traffickers and aid victims.