Note from moderator: Telecompost is always informative, but I'm posting this one because it contains specific guidelines for letter-writing. Not having gotten very far with the Congress, public-interest groups in the telecom area are moving their focus to the FCC. Andy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ==================================================== ################ ############# ################ ## # ## ############# ## ### # ### ### # # # ## # ### ### ## # # # # # # # # ## # # # # ## ## # ## # # # ## ## ## # # ### # ## # # # # # # # ## # ## # # # # ## ### ### ### ### # # # ## # ### # ==================================================== Free Speech Media, LLC Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility October 26, 1995 Number 17 ==================================================== Compiled, written, and edited by Coralee Whitcomb Please direct comments and inquiries to •••@••.•••. ==================================================== For more information on Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, please write •••@••.••• or call 415-322-3778. ==================================================== The Telecom Post is posted to several distribution lists and is also available from the CPSR listserv. To subscribe, send to •••@••.••• with the message SUBSCRIBE TELECOM-POST YOUR NAME. Unsubscribtion requests should be sent to the list from which you receive the Telecom Post unless you purposely subscribed to it through CPSR in which case you would write to •••@••.••• with the message UNSUBSCRIBE TELECOM-POST. ===================================================== The Telecom Post is posted more or less weekly. My apologies for cross-posts. ====================================================== 1. The Censorship fight picks up steam 2, ACM's Day in Court 3, FCC - Where the Action Is 4. The Universal Service Gam 5. What We Can Do Now 6. NTIA Guidelines and Deadline THE CENSORSHIP FIGHT PICKS UP STEAM As of the last issue, the ACLU had filed suit with 19 other organizations challenging the constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in Federal Court in Philadelphia. This suit is now officially called ACLU v. Reno. It challenges the "indecency" and "patently offensive" provisions of the CDA. On February 15, U. S District Judge Ronald Buckwalter issued a temporary restraining order against enforcement of the Act with regard to the "indecency" provisions only. At the time there was no assurance that prosecutions would not be pursued once the restraining order ended. The ACLU reports that as of Monday, February 26, "the Court received and filed the written stipulation from the government that they will not initiate investigations or begin prosecutions under either the "patently offensive" or the "indecency" provisions of the CDA". The written stipulation is available at http://www.aclu.org. On February 25, a second coalition of 22 groups filed a second lawsuit. The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC) led by the American Library Association filed suit in the same Federal Court in Philadelphia.. This suit goes further than the ACLU suit by actually attempting to redefine the law which covers the Internet. The approach the CEIC has taken is to first educate the Court on how the Internet works and to pinpoint the differences between a broadcast medium such as TV and the Internet. It also hopes to educate the courts and the public on the real scope of this issue. The outcome of this process will determine the fundamental nature of the Internet of the future. CEIC argues that: -The Internet is a unique communications medium which deserves First Amendment protections at least as broad as those afforded to print media. -Individual users and Parents, not the Federal Government should determine for themselves and their children what material comes into their homes based on their own tastes and values. -The CDA will be ineffective at protecting children form "indecent" or patently" offensive material online. The CEIC has extended an invitation to join them - write to •••@••.•••. The invitation is good until March 15. Both individual and organizations are welcome to join. On February 27 the two cases were formally consolidated.. A three judge court will hold an evidentiary hearing in Philadelphia on March 21, 22 and April 1, 11, and 12 are reserved if needed. The judges include Judge Dolores Sloviter (Chief Judge, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals), Judge Stewart Dalzell (Federal District Court, Eastern District of PA), and Judge Ronald Buckwalter (Federal District Court, Eastern District of PA) More information can be found at http://www.aclu.org ACM's DAY IN COURT The Alliance for Community Media (ACM) had an apparently successful hearing with the Supreme Court on February 21. The ACM was challenging a section of the 1992 Cable Act which allowed parent cable companies the right to censor "indecent" material on their community access and leased access channels. The ACM and the Denver Area Educational Telecommunications Consortium argued that technological tools are available for program blocking by parents and that better represents the "least restrictive means" required by the First Amendment to protect a "compelling government interest" (protecting minors). The outcome of this case will likely influence that of the ACLU and CIEC cases regarding the Internet. FCC - WHERE THE ACTION IS Though the Telecom Act of 1996 spelled out the changes that are to take place, the FCC must fine tune these guidelines by developing "rules". While the momentum is clearly in the direction of eliminating regulations wherever they exist, this next year is going to be crazed for the FCC as it finalizes the procedures put in place by the legislation. It is operating in a very unfriendly environment with a Congress ready to close it down the minute it cleans up its telecommunication tasks. It has been ordered to move to a new building this year and is operating with a reduced budget. In this state, the FCC is committed to over 80 rulemakings in the next year -- an extraordinarily ambitious schedule. In real terms this means the FCC will be trying to tick things off its list as fast as possible and will probably be looking for shortcuts wherever it can. Already it has adopted novel new practices for gathering public input. The traditional route, notices of proposed rulemakings (NPRMs), provide a period of time for public input regarding a new "rule". Due to the tight schedule, these periods will last only one to two weeks. Andy Schwartzman of the Media Access Project alerts us that the FCC is likely to be very receptive of any solutions involving an agreement between the commercial and non-commercial sectors. This is a time of opportunity if we use it right. It is also a time of quick and possibly sloppy decision making if we don't pay attention. Now is the time to speak to industry and pursue areas of common ground. March's schedule for rulemakings include relaxing the broadcast ownership limits, relaxing crossownership rules, extending broadcast license terms, Open Video System rules (OVS), cable indecency scrambling and the elimination of the Section 214 filing requirements for telcos wishing to distribute video. THE UNIVERSAL SERVICE GAME The definition of universal service is to be decided by a joint federal-state board made up of 3 FCC commissioners, 4 state regulatory commission members and one state utility consumer advocate. This group has been selected. It includes FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and Commissioners Susan Ness and Andrew Barrett. There is a November 1996 deadline for the joint board to return its recommendations to the commission and those recommendations must be implemented by May 8, 1997. By August 8 the FCC must adopt interexchange and interstate Service Rules to insure that "interexchange" customers in rural and high cost areas are charged no more than those in urban areas and that "interstate-interexchange" customers are not more in one state than another. A report from the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee, "A Nation of Opportunity: Realizing the Promise of the Information Superhighway", calls on the government to offer universal service subsidies if market forces don't work. It set a national goal of enabling every person to have access by 2005 and for all schools and libraries by 2000. Their definition of universal service includes interactive, multimedia infrastructure. The report also encourages and open and interoperable architecture. Clearly, there are still many decisions to make with regard to who will get what. Determining "universal access" will be an ongoing process at every level. We will have a very key role to play in keeping this concept on track. WHAT WE CAN DO NOW The Center of Media Education has published a list of areas of promise. >>From "Eight Policy Actions to Make Our Media System Safe for Democracy". Universal Service: The FCC and every state public utility commission will be revamping rules on universal service. These proceedings are an opportunity to expand the safety net to address the needs of certain communities (low-income, disabled, bilingual, homeless, public institutions, and others). New mechanisms should continually raise the universal service standard --now just phone service--to adapt to future developments, eventually to include Internet and broadband access. ACTION: Organize disadvantaged constituencies to fill comments in these crucial dockets. Community Access: The biggest public interest victory in the Act was the establishment of low-cost access for schools and libraries to advanced telecommunications services. ACTION: File and organize in support of theses public institutions at the FCC and state regulatory agencies, making sure that the rates are truly low and the connections robust. Consumer Protection: Federal and state regulatory agencies will set up new rules for competition in the local (and in some cases, cable) industry. This will have a direct result on consumers' choices and rates. ACTION: Join coalitions of national public interest groups and state public advocates to file at these regulatory agencies, giving them the political support they will need to break up the local monopolies by denying the companies unfair advantages in the marketplace. Media Concentration: A number of public interest groups, including the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Media Access Project, and CME have filed at the Federal Trade Commission against the Time Warner-Turner merger (and the alliance with TCI). ACTION: Write your own letter, as this deal has much significant regulatory, legal, and financial problems that the FTC may stop or restructure it. Broadcaster Accountability: Relaxed ownership restrictions in the Act will bring more media consolidation. The major television and radio networks will acquire additional stations throughout the country, and community members have few legal means to stop this concentration of media power. ACTION: File petitions to deny the transfer of licenses at the FCC demanding that broadcasters live up to their public interest obligations, from minority hiring to children's educational programming. Children's Television: A five-year battle at the FCC (coordinated by the CME) to properly implement the 1990 Children's Television Act will be decided in the next few months. ACTION: Write (docket MM 93-48) in support of requiring broadcasters to air a minimum amount of educational programming for children as part of their public service obligations. Spectrum Auctions: Congress may grant broadcasters additional free public airwaves worth billions of dollars. Media Access Project and other education, civic, and public interest groups want to stop this corporate welfare. ACTION: Tell your representatives and the FCC that the spectrum should be auctioned instead, and that the proceeds should be reinvested for public use --to wire schools and libraries and fund noncommercial educational services. Intellectual Property: Congress is currently holding hearings on an Administration-backed bill on intellectual property. At stake is whether the principles of fair use and public domain will be extended into digital communications of the next century. ACTION: Join and fight with the Digital Future Coalition, comprised of public interest, library, and trade groups, for policies that ensure accessible, affordable, and noncommercial information for the public. More information can be had from Anthony Wright, Coordinator, Future of Media Project. 202-628-2620, •••@••.•••, http://wwwcme.org/cme. Personal note: Over a year ago several of us in Boston started the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable - Northeast. This group is beginning to organize as a coalition of public advocates around serious citizen action at the state and local level. (Boston makes it easy with the State House and City Hall a few blocks from each other). I'd like to use the Telecom Post to track our progress in educating our policymakers and steering this thing in the direction of the public interest. BROADCAST SPECTRUM As you'll recall, 6 MHz of broadcast spectrum was allocated to the broadcast industry to help the transition to HDTV. HDTV is a non-starter at the moment and the broadcast industry wants to keep the spectrum and use it for other wireless commercial products. The Telecomm. Act of 1996 allowed this to happen, calling it "spectrum flexibility". It became a sticking point with Dole at the 11th hour as he agreed with the public interest community that this constituted a billion dollar giveaway. When he agreed that the issue could be set aside until later, the bill passed. "Later" has arrived. Since it is generally agreed that this spectrum will be auctioned, the proceeds from that auction are now under attack from all sides. Those who would balance the budget by 2002 want to see proceeds go there. Public Broadcasting Stations would like it to go into a "trust fund" to help achieve self-sufficiency and in order to wean itself from the federal dole. Others might have it serve the public interest by subsidzing "public lanes" in the NII. NTIA GRANT PROGRAM The TIIAP 1996 grants deadline has been announced - April 6. Though this has been a very effective program for the last two years, this year's awards are very much in doubt. Currently funded under the Continuing Resolution, NTIA has no way of knowing how much or if it will be funded for the 1996 round. Current funding levels are $21 million. APPLICATION DEADLINE IS APRIL 4. To get an application call 202-482-2048 or http://www.ntia.doc.gov:80/tiiap/96gdline.html. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Andrew Oram - •••@••.••• - Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS (CPSR) Cyber-Rights: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/ ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/ CyberJournal: (WWW or FTP) --> ftp://ftp.iol.ie/users/rkmoore Materials may be reposted in their _entirety_ for non-commercial use. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~