Entries by tag: fcc
This is some very good news:
A Philadelphia appeals court Monday threw out the $550,000 indecency fine l
It says something about how silly the whole thing was that it’s gotten so little press today. Americans are too stressed and focused on survival to care about things like whether Janet Jackson shows some boob on national television, and as the court noted, the majority of the complaints came from organized activist groups like the PTC, who have nothing better to do with their time than to ensure we stay chained to Puritanical moral standards and don’t mind our own goddamn business.
As Ars Technica’s Matthew Lasar notes, this is another blow to the FCC’s crusade to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars litigating networks to keep their content free of words and images that we can see just as easily and hear just as readily elsewhere, while abrogating their responsibility on everything from broadband policy to the DTV transition. And the rules don’t even make sense to boot. Hopefully this latest smack will get them in line and keep Kevin Martin from indulging his evangelical moralistic tendencies until at least January 20, 2009.
By the way, it was damn hard to exercise restraint and not post a pic that contained the offensive areola in question flying free. That’s an example of the love I have for all you people still at work.
The Federal Communications Commission may be the most powerful government agency you, the average American, don’t know anything about. I’d wager if I polled my friends list and readership and asked them to name even one member of the commission, you guys would come up craps. That’s a bad situation, especially when you consider how many issues the FCC has direct control over and jurisdiction of, from setting policy for nationwide broadband development, to overseeing the digital television transition, to overseeing (and approving) the Sirius-XM Radio merger.
* Remember Scotty “2 Hotty” McClellan? Well, now that the damage is done and the rats have abandoned ship, now he decides to come to Jesus. Sorry, Scott, we gave at the office–and you’re still a douchebag.
* The idea that claiming for months that the housing crisis was under control and wouldn’t spill over into the greater economy, then furiously bailing out failed lenders with taxpayer dollars, somehow qualifies Ben Bernanke as “bold” should make you as sad as it makes me.
* The FCC is under pressure from consumer activists and Congress to ease wireless contract termination fees, but their proposed solution would block class action lawsuits and prevent state regulators from passing stronger laws governing the fees. The cure is truly worse than the disease.
* Speaking of which, the Supreme Court made a rare show of standing up for the individual by denying T-Mobile’s appeal to dismiss a class action suit over arbitration clauses in its contracts. I dunno if someone left a horse head in Sammy Alito’s bed or what, but kudos to the SCOTUS for making the right decision for once.
* Fans of Joss Whedon’s new Eliza Dushku-starring action show “Dollhouse” are launching a preemptive strike campaign to save the show from being canceled before a single episode has even aired. Given how badly Joss has fared in the past with Fox, and how networks are canceling good shows right and left these days (R.I.P. “Moonlight”), I can’t say this is unwarranted.
Today technology news site InfoWorld asked the question “Does the U.S. need a better broadband policy?” and proceeded to answer it by devoting 3/4 of the article to how wonderful the current deregulated free-market approach to tech policy is. No, really, that’s what they did:
In keeping with my thoughts from yesterday on the amazing development of the information culture and the global connectivity that powers it, Ars Technica has two interesting posts today that touch on that.
First, in what should be no surprise to anyone who lives in the DC area :), hyperconnectivity is on the rise, though as Chartier astutely notes, this constant “always on” posture can be undermined by all the time spent answering one-word emails, SMS messages, etc. and having to decipher cryptic posts from people who demand your complete attention through technology, but know exactly sweet fuck-all about how to transmit their ideas effectively. Being connected 24-7 can only be useful when people learn to transmit information smartly and in a way that matters to the recipient AND the sender. I’ve commented several times about how business types use their constant Crackberry typing as power plays, where they’ll spend all their time clacking away during a presentation or a meeting, and then demand their subordinates recap everything that went on. That’s NOT the right way to do things, needless to say. This type of shit shouldn’t be a revelation to anyone, and yet it seems to be a lesson that needs learning, over and over again.
Second, more and more Americans are ditching their landlines in favor of cellphones. In places like Africa, where there is little to no solid infrastructure for communication, and techno-oriented cultures like Japan, mobile devices have become THE method of communication for everything from paying bills to surfing the Internet. Ask everyone from Matt Fraction to </a></strong></a>
lullabypit about this–mobile is going to be where it’s at, if we can find the smarts and the will to harness these technologies for the many uses they have available.
It’s one of the many reasons I completely support opening all wireless networks to work with all devices–the only way that the mobile world can experience the same kind of innovation and crazy seat-of-your-pants development as the Internet is if users aren’t locked into the same crappy carrier by high cancellation fees and crappy locked handsets that keep you from using them with other providers. If you don’t believe me on that, just ask Walt Mossberg.
Is the answer to the above question “No?”
Well, that’s part of the problem–millions of Americans are in the same boat, and they are equally unaware of the situation.
The basic gist is this: On February 17, 2009, “over-the-air” (OTA) broadcast television stations that use analog signals (which you pick up through the familiar “rabbit-ear” antennae) are switching to digital signals, which means that unless you have a strong enough antenna set and a special set-top converter box, your television will not be able to pick up the new signals. The government’s official DTV site gives a concise description of the whole event.
It’s one of those moments of fearful symmetry only a tiger could love. Barely a day after FCC chair Kevin Martin announced that his agency would be investigating Comcast for blocking access to BitTorrent, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has announced that they are launching an investigation into the FCC for some of the shady business that’s been transpiring under Martin’s aegis. (Formal letter here.) Of special note is the fact that committee chairman John Dingell has asked that e-mails and documents relating to the investigation should be retained, and that whistleblowers should be protected against retaliation from Martin. It says something about how deeply broken and off-track the FCC has become that something like this needs to be right upfront in the letter, or that the letter needs to be written at all.
Martin, as I’ve documented extensively over the last few months, is one of the best friends to business money can buy on the Hill, going out of his way to subvert the public interest in order to ensure the desires of big telecoms and bigger media corporations are met. Viewed in this light, it’s impossible to see his desire to investigate Comcast as anything more than another excuse to screw the cable industry for the benefit of AT&T and Verizon.
This is not to say that Comcast shouldn’t be investigated. Remember their amazing invisible bandwith barrier ? Or their non-denial denials when caught red-handed interfering with Internet traffic? Although I wouldn’t put Comcast on the same level as the telecoms when it comes to sheer rapaciousness, there’s no question these guys are bad actors and proof of why we need net neutrality protections codified into law.
But the idea of Martin, a normally laissez-faire business-friendly free market advocate, suddenly turning into a pro-regulation zealot where cable TV is concerned, is ludicrous on its face–unless you understand that every one of Martin’s salvos against cable is done less out of a genuine interest for consumer welfare and more out of an assurance that his paymasters will see their needs met. For that alone, Congress should overturn the heavy rock of the FCC, and dig through every bit of dirt they find–no matter how many nasty things crawl out.
Earlier this week the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to relax rules against cross-ownership of different media outlets in the same region. Basically, this means that a media conglomerate can own all the outlets for information in an area–a TV station, radio station, and newspaper–without any competition.It’s been fairly widely known that this was a goal of current FCC chair Kevin Martin for some time–a corporatist who has been generally laissez-faire towards every aspect of consolidation of media (except for the cable industry), Martin never met a merger or buyout he didn’t like. What was not widely known, but should come as no surprise, is that the FCC vote had the full support of the Bush regime. From my article:
Martin, however, has the backing of the White House to pursue the media consolidation changes. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez wrote Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warning him that the Bush administration would fight any “attempt to delay or overturn these revised rules by legislative means.” Martin, a former Bush campaign operative whose wife Cathie has worked for both Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney, has aggressively pursued a conservative, free-market agenda since succeeding Michael Powell to become FCC chair in 2005.
Gutierrez wouldn’t tip the White House’s hand like that unless he was sure this was a signal they wanted to send–that the Bush/Cheney brigade is firmly in favor of what purports to be a massive corporate welfare giveaway to big media companies:
To stop a merger in the top 20 markets under Martin’s scheme, the burden of proof would rest with those opposing the deal. They would have to show that the proposed combination didn’t meet these criteria. Outside the top 20 markets, the burden of proof would rest with a company’s lawyers, but the companies would control all the information and could make promises that would be almost impossible to enforce. Average citizens don’t have the resources to prove whether companies will increase news a little bit, and they would have a hard time accounting for claims of “financial distress. “
This naked power grab by the corporatist wing of the Bush administration even has many Republicans cringing–so much so that they have joined forces with Democrats to push legislation opposing the new rules until more study is made of their potential effects. In the House, Dave Reichert (no friend to the netroots or progressives) is joining Jay Inslee (who co-sponsored legislation to protect Internet radio) to block the new rules from taking effect. Twenty-five Senators wrote Martin imploring him to reconsider his decision, and it’s a rare day when you can see Ted “Tubes” Stevens and Russ Feingold agreeing on a damn thing. Byron Dorgan, another signer, has his own Senate bill pending that commands support from the odd couple of Barack Obama and Trent Lott.
Let’s pause a moment to consider this. When Trent Lott and Ted Stevens are opposing your plan, you may want to consider a reassessment. It’s also worth noting that the Senate letter was signed by all four Democrats running for President–Biden, Clinton, Dodd, and Obama–indicating that this is an issue that’s not going to fade in the primary battles.
Kevin Martin has used every Christmas since his appointment to run through decisions that would benefit big corporations at the public expense–last year was the megamerger of AT&T and BellSouth, and this year it’s the consolidation rule. He, like Bush, knows he has limited time left in his role before a new administration takes over, and wants to ensure as many giveaways as he can before he’s booted.
But the public interest and the need for free, diverse, and competitive information flow should not be held hostage to the political whims of a guy like Martin. The Internet is a viable alternative to typical news outlets, but it shouldn’t be the only alternative–and keep in mind, the same corporate titans who want control of television and newspapers break bread with those who want control of the Web. A diverse, powerful, and competitive local media is essential to an informed, aware, and active populace–and if you believe that “all politics is local,” you need that for real change to ever take place.
Sign the petition to support Congress’ efforts to protect diverse local media, and deliver a nice lump of coal to the stockings of Bush, Cheney, and Martin this holiday season. Then tell your friends!
Tonight the role of Mr. Orange will be played by FCC Chair Kevin Martin.
Faced with continuing delays over his master plan to see AT&T and BellSouth united in unholy matrimony, FCC Chair Kevin Martin is indeed calling out the big guns–he’s asked recused FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell to vote.
This is bad news for anyone hoping McDowell would exercise any sort of balance in his viewpoint–as a Martin appointee, McDowell embodies the worst of both worlds: He’s a laissez-faire free marketeer when it comes to virtually every aspect of telecom policy, except for what we’re actually able to watch:
Commissioner McDowell espoused a general free-market philosophy that resonated with the industry crowd, saying that the government should get out of the way and remove barriers to entry, “trusting free people acting within free markets to make better decisions than government.” But there are times, he said, when the government should address market failure, applying narrowly tailored remedies. He suggested, without explicitly saying it, that a lack of self-regulation of content would be such a failure. “We must be careful not to abuse our freedoms he said, adding that as parents of two young children–with a third on the way–he and his wife think about how the media will “shape them” and their values.
As an even more interesting twist, former FCC Commissioner William Kennard–who is referenced as the precedent-setter that will enable Martin to push for McDowell’s vote–recently was caught in a bit of an ethical maelstrom by slamming net neutrality on the New York Times’ Op-ed page while taking money from Sprint Nextel, among others.
All of these shenanigans have got Democrats in a righteous fury, with incoming House Telecom Subcommittee chair Ed Markey–yes, Mr. “Net Neutrality” himself–all up in McDowell’s zone.
Congress doesn’t actually have the power to stop the merger, but they can certainly make life hell for Martin and the companies involved in the aftermath, which may be accounting for Democratic commissioners’ Adelstein and Copps willingness to play hardball. “Either you give us the regs we want,” they’re saying, “or it’s the Senate floor for you!”
It’s a mark of how much the political landscape has shifted in the last two months that a merger which seemed guaranteed a smooth victory is now a political hot potato of the first order.
Originally posted at Private Intelligence.
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