Catagory:Other Topics

By Pat Heck, Mike Evans, Mary Baker, Cindy O’Malley, Karishma Page, and John Godfrey

Earlier this month, the House passed H.R. 1002, the “Wireless Tax Fairness Act of 2011,” which would impose a temporary, five-year moratorium on new taxes or fees that discriminate against mobile services. The bill, which was introduced by Congressman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) and had the support of 235 cosponsors, passed by voice vote under suspension of the rules.

Read More

The Federal Trade Commission recently announced its settlement with the operator of www.skidekids.com, a social media website marketed as the “Facebook and Myspace for kids.” The FTC claimed that the website collected personal information from approximately 5,600 children without parent consent in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). COPPA requires that website operators notify parents and obtain parental consent before they collect, use, or disclose personal information from individuals under 13 years of age. The agency also alleged that the website’s operator made deceptive claims regarding the website’s privacy policy and information collection practices.

Read More

By Susan Altman

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in its October 3, 2011 decision in Suzlon Energy Ltd v. Microsoft Corporation, has taken another step in defining the rights of people to protect their emails from being disclosed in civil court proceedings. The question before the Suzlon court was whether a party can require a U.S. electronic communication service provider to produce emails stored on a U.S. server for the account of a non-U.S. national without regard to the safeguards and restrictions imposed by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA). The court answered with a clear “no,” stating that the protections of the ECPA against unrestricted disclosure of emails by an electronic communication service provider apply to non-U.S. nationals as well as to U.S. citizens.

Read More

The FCC’s Media Bureau announced the following comment deadlines for the FCC’s recently released Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to adopt closed captioning rules for video programming delivered by Internet Protocol: Comments:  October 18, 2011. Reply Comments:  October 28, 2011. As we reported previously, the NPRM proposes closed captioning requirements mandated by the Twenty-First Century Video Communications and Accessibility Act of 2010 (“CVAA”). The new rules would apply to a broader range of devices, including mobile devices, and content providers would be required to meet a strict schedule based upon the type of content captioned.  Notably, under the NPRM, the FCC’s closed captioning rules would no longer be restricted to television receivers or to those devices with screens larger than 13 inches, an exception originally established in the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990.  The CVAA requires the FCC adopt these rules by January 12, 2012.

In a major step forward for what one telecom observer called “the defining saga” of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski’s tenure, the Office of Management and Budget approved the information collection requirements of the controversial 2010 Open Internet Order. The approved provisions concern new network management disclosures required from broadband service providers and formal complaint procedures under the net neutrality rules. The new rules are expected to be published in the Federal Register in one to three weeks and will go into effect 60 days later.

Read More

Last week Paula Kerger, President and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, discussed the future of public broadcasting and PBS in the current, fractured, media environment where broadcast spectrum reallocation is under serious consideration. Ms. Kerger appeared on a Broadband US TV webcast live from the floor of FOSE, the government information technology conference and expo in Washington, D.C.  Kerger, who was interviewed by Broadband US TV co-hosts Marty Stern of K&L Gates and Jim Baller of the Baller Herbst Law Group, discussed the importance of widespread and affordable broadband access as well as the significance of over-the-air broadcasting for, according to Kerger, the 45 million Americans who continue to rely on broadcast reception to receive local TV stations.

Touching upon the current funding crunch faced by many public media sources following the recent economic downturn (Kerger said that about 15% of PBS funding comes from the Federal government), the conversation moved the contentious issue of spectrum reallocation. Ms. Kerger noted PBS member stations’ early use of spectrum for multicasting as well as public safety and indicated that her organization would continue to watch the Congressional spectrum debate closely. When asked to discuss the future of public broadcasting over the next decade, Ms. Kerger emphasized the increased use of multiple platforms by viewers to access PBS programming, in particular mobile applications, and the need for public media to adapt to new technologies and opportunities. 

The full interview may be seen here (Registration required).