Online marketers announced themselves ready and willing to regulate themselves Tuesday, just as consumer advocacy groups asked the Federal Trade Commission not to follow the same ineffectual path with mobile marketers that they said it took with online marketers. A complaint by the Center for Digital Democracy and U.S. PIRG said the FTC must act now to rein in mobile marketing before practices that should be labeled unfair and deceptive are so well entrenched they're impossible to stop. “The commission cannot continue to sit idly by and wait -- as it has done with the concerns over privacy raised by online advertising in the past,” the complaint said.
The FCC is seven months late in responding to Freedom of Information Act requests seeking information about its official web posting practices. In May Warren Communications News, publisher of Communications Daily, sent the commission four requests for documents about when the commission released orders, rulemaking notices and the other official documents after business hours. The requests related to official FCC documents posted during 2007 and 2008 on www.fcc.gov and the Media Bureau’s homepage. A response was due June 4, the agency acknowledged in May, but the commission never responded further to the requests or asked for additional time. A lawyer for Warren wrote the FCC Tuesday asking that the documents be provided by noon Thursday, raising the possibility of a lawsuit under the OPEN Government Act of 2007. FCC representatives didn’t reply to messages seeking comment.
FCC, NTIA and industry officials are urging Congress not to postpone the Feb. 17 deadline for the analog cutoff, to avoid creating new problems. House leaders haven’t decided whether to sponsor legislation to put off the date. They probably will seek action on a bill sponsored by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., to change government accounting rules so NTIA can resume sending out coupons without having to wait for old coupons to expire. The Senate Commerce Committee is continuing work on legislation and expects to have it ready soon, a committee aide said.
FCC, NTIA and industry officials are urging Congress not to postpone the Feb. 17 deadline for the analog cutoff, to avoid creating new problems. House leaders haven’t decided whether to sponsor legislation to put off the date. They probably will seek action on a bill sponsored by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., to change government accounting rules so NTIA can resume sending out coupons without having to wait for old coupons to expire.
LAS VEGAS -- Open warfare over net neutrality policy has receded, but consensus on legislation and regulatory policy hasn’t been reached, panelists said Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show. “We've been at this for a long time,” said Paul Misener, Amazon vice president of global policy. “We are in a period of detente where nothing is happening.” Companies are in a period of uncertainly because of pending litigation in the Comcast protocol blocking case and likely net neutrality legislation in a new Congress, he said. Legislation is needed to resolve that uncertainty, he added.
Members of the Senate Commerce Committee are said to be drafting a bill to delay the nationwide switch to digital TV from Feb. 17, according to lobbyists tracking the transition. Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is thought to be involved in the work, they said.
Members of the Senate Commerce Committee are drafting a bill to delay the nationwide DTV switch Feb. 17, according to lobbyists tracking the transition. Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is involved in the work, they said.
LAS VEGAS -- Open warfare over net neutrality policy has receded, but consensus on legislation and regulatory policy hasn’t been reached, panelists said Thursday at the Consumer Electronics show. “We've been at this for a long time,” said Paul Misener, Amazon vice president of global policy. “We are in a period of detente where nothing is happening.” Companies are in a period of uncertainly because of pending litigation in the Comcast protocol blocking case and likely net neutrality legislation in a new Congress, he said. Legislation is needed to resolve that uncertainty, he added.
Momentum to delay full-power broadcasters’ move to DTV picked up steam with support from President-elect Barack Obama. A Thursday letter from the co-head of his transition team to top lawmakers asked Congress to push back the Feb. 17 DTV switch, noting the NTIA’s digital converter box coupon program has run out of money. But the NTIA’s chief told us that Congress is coming up with legislation to let the agency send out more coupons. And FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, some legislators and industry groups said delay could cause consumer confusion.
The House passed HR-36 to require posting online the records of donations to presidential library fund-raising organizations (WID Jan 8 p5). The approval came late Wednesday under suspension of the rules. Other Internet- related bills were introduced this week. The Transparency in Corporate Filings Act (HR-281) by Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., would authorize the SEC to require or allow companies to file information under securities laws on Web sites “in addition to or instead of” through submissions to the commission. The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act (HR-261) by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, would have the Department of Homeland Security and the National Science Foundation create a grant program to set up or expand “cybersecurity professional development programs” at institutions of higher education, authorizing $3.7 million annually for the grants. It would also create an E-Security Fellows Program for public and private officials to work on a stipend with the National Cybersecurity Division for six months at a time. The measure provides no specific authorization of appropriations.