The VON Coalition urged the White House to stimulate VoIP development by supporting 6 policy “enablers” outlined in a letter dated Mon.: (1) Continue “hands-off” treatment of the Internet. (2) Refrain from applying “geographically constrained legacy fees and taxes.” (3) Reform access charges and the universal service regime rather than applying them to new technologies such as VoIP. (4) Use “forward-thinking industry led solutions” for dealing with issues such as how to provide 911 service over the Internet. (5) Make sure consumers can use “any device, application or service over the Internet.” (6) Focus on how the Internet can be used to make “talking more affordable, businesses more productive, jobs more plentiful and the Internet more valuable.” Copies of the letter were sent to Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska), House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.), Commerce Dept. Secy.-Designate Carlos Gutierrez.
Public broadcasters are considering a centralized Web repository for digital content as they scour Internet revenue opportunities and seek to fend off competition and encroachment on their audiences from commercial media outlets. Dubbed the Public Service Publisher (PSP) initiative, the proposal will be presented to the Public Bcstg. Web Summit in San Francisco Jan. 26-28. Seeking to increase public broadcasting stations’ and producers’ revenue through “paid content” will be a major focus of deliberations, said Mark Fuerst, exec. dir. of the Integrated Media Assn. (IMA) and a member of the working group that will present the proposal. The group is made up of public TV and radio managers and representatives from Microsoft, IMA and the Station Resource Group.
AOL said Mon. it would rename its fledgling cable music video channel and offer more content in an effort to steer viewers to an AOL website. The channel, originally called “My Music Channel,” will now be named “AOL Music On Demand.” Launched 8 months ago with little fanfare, the cable channel lets viewers click their remote controls to order videos and AOL programming -- once available only to paying subscribers to its high-speed Internet service -- for free.
Fair use advocates and the content industry are gearing up for a rematch in the 109th Congress. The last Congress failed to pass significant copyright reform legislation despite a major effort by the recording and motion picture lobbies. Both sides expect to see familiar issues trotted out again, though there appears to be a new realization that Congress is increasingly savvy about what’s at stake.
LAS VEGAS -- Hardware already can be purchased for $450 to bypass the broadcast flag, and software can be downloaded free from 7 websites, Washington lawyer James Burger said at the Consumer Electronics Show here Thurs. The flag -- intended to prevent Internet redistribution of digital broadcast content -- “doesn’t work so well,” Burger said wryly.
Nonfacilities-based ISPs could be hurt if Qwest wins reduced regulation of its DSL services, the Information Technology Assn. of America (ITAA) warned the FCC. It said Qwest’s argument that there’s enough competition to merit regulatory forbearance may apply to retail services, but such competition doesn’t exist on the wholesale side. In comments to the FCC filed Jan. 5 on Qwest’s petition, ITAA said ILECs have competition from cable modems for retail business but there’s not comparable competition in wholesaling: “ISPs that do not own their own facilities, but [that] seek to provide broadband information services to mass market customers, must obtain broadband transmission service. In most cases, ISPs have no viable alternative but to obtain this service from an ILEC. Cable systems do not provide intermodal competition in the wholesale mass market broadband telecommunications service market.” Qwest’s petition asks the FCC to forbear from dominant carrier regulations such as tariff and rate averaging requirements. Also filing comments, the Assn. for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS) expressed similar concerns: “Qwest may be entitled to certain relief for its retail services if sufficient retail competition exists; however, any finding regarding the retail broadband market must not affect Qwest’s obligation to provide wholesale services, where it remains the dominant provider of bottleneck wireline facilities.” ALTS said the Qwest petition and one filed by BellSouth “ask the Commission to remove regulations that, if granted, would stifle the deployment of nascent broadband Internet access services, and in particular, would throttle the competitive deployment of innovative [VoIP] services.” ALTS also noted the Qwest and BellSouth petitions covered areas already under study in on-going proceedings: “Qwest… insists on filing this petition to push the Commission into expediting those so-called ’stalled’ proceedings… The Commission should not yield to this pressure.” BellSouth, filing in support of the Qwest proceeding, said the regulations involved were established for situations where competition didn’t exist. Such “dominant carrier regulation is particularly inappropriate when the market leaders in broadband service -- cable modem providers -- are not burdened by such regulations,” BellSouth said: “This irrational framework of saddling [ILECs] with regulatory obligations that do not apply to cable modem providers harms the market by stifling deployment and innovation.”
Education Secy. Rod Paige said “significant change” in the overall learning experience has begun through better use of information technology -- particularly the Internet -- in public schools. In Toward a New Golden Age in American Education, a report required by 2001’s No Child Left Behind Act, Paige acknowledged that “too often, schools have simply applied technology to existing ways of teaching and learning, with marginal results in student achievement,” but he credited the law and growing comfort with technology for rapid change.
Congressional hearings should be held on sales of personal information outside the Fair Credit and Reporting Act, said the Electronic Privacy Information Center. In a letter to Douglas Curling, CEO of ChoicePoint, EPIC Pres. Marc Rotenberg called for a national debate on the subject: “We would welcome a public hearing in Congress with balanced representation between those in the information broker industry and those in the consumer protection field, including state attorneys general, to discuss the scope and application of the Fair Credit Reporting Act to the dossiers on American consumers now being sold by companies such as yours.” Last month, EPIC filed a complaint against ChoicePoint at the Federal Trade Commission for packaging personal data so as to avoid FCRA rules.
A Health Canada spokesman confirmed rumors (WID Jan 7 p6) that the agency is drafting a proposal that effectively would quash cross-border Internet prescription drug sales. The proposal aims to prevent Canadian doctors from co-signing prescriptions for U.S. patients without first examining them in person, Health Canada spokesman Ken Polk said. It also would prohibit prescriptions for non-Canadians who aren’t physically in Canada and creates a list of drugs widely used by Canadians that are banned from export. Canadian law requires doctors to “attend upon” a patient when co-signing a prescription, but the language may need to be amended and made “more explicit,” Polk said. The proposal is expected to be presented to the federal cabinet by the end of January, Polk added. New legislation needs the support of the House of Commons, but changes to existing regulations can be made without a parliamentary vote. It isn’t yet clear which route is appropriate for the ban on co-signing prescriptions, Polk said.
Carlos Gutierrez’s nomination to be Commerce Secy. won 22-0 Senate Commerce Committee approval, as expected. Gutierrez’ nomination is subject to approval by the full Senate, which is in recess until Jan. 20.