NCEs Oppose Using Restricted-Use Registration Numbers for Information on Ownership Reports
An FCC proposal to require noncommercial education stations to use restricted-use FCC registration numbers on reports used to gather information about media ownership will “contribute nothing useful to the FCC’s picture of diversification,” said 70 public TV stations in a…
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filing opposing the measure in docket 10-234. “Persons reported on NCE ownership reports are not ‘owners’ of broadcast stations as that concept is understood by the FCC and the Courts,” said the filing. “Collection and retention of this information with commercial broadcast ownership information will taint the value of such information.” Having to submit personal information and digits from their Social Security numbers will put NCE board members at risk of identity theft, the stations said. “This is particularly true given that the federal government has been repeatedly shown over the last year to be abjectly incapable of protection of stored personal data,” the filing said. “The FCC’s proposal as it would apply to NCE stations is bad policy and legally unsupportable.”