House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., scolded the FCC Friday for any potential flirtation with regulating over-the-top (OTT) video and possibly reclassifying its companies as multichannel video programming distributors. “We should hit the pause button on regulating streaming video,” Pallone declared, speaking remotely from the Capitol to an audience in the Venable law offices during an event hosted by Duke Law (see 1510090028).
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., scolded the FCC Friday for any potential flirtation with regulating over-the-top (OTT) video and possibly reclassifying its companies as multichannel video programming distributors. “We should hit the pause button on regulating streaming video,” Pallone declared, speaking remotely from the Capitol to an audience in the Venable law offices during an event hosted by Duke Law (see 1510090028).
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., scolded the FCC Friday for any potential flirtation with regulating over-the-top (OTT) video and possibly reclassifying its companies as multichannel video programming distributors. “We should hit the pause button on regulating streaming video,” Pallone declared, speaking remotely from the Capitol to an audience in the Venable law offices during an event hosted by Duke Law (see 1510090028).
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed three bills on unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, proposed by state Sen. Ted Gaines (R), citing concerns with criminalizing conduct when the state’s prison and jail populations “have exploded,” in a veto message Saturday. Gaines said SB-168 would “protect forests, property and the lives of citizens, firefighters and emergency personnel from drone interference” by increasing fines for drone use that interferes with firefighting and emergency responders, in a September 2015 news release. “The bill also seeks to grant civil immunity to any emergency responder who damages an unmanned aircraft in the course of firefighting, air ambulance, or search-and-rescue operations,” the release said. Gaines said he proposed the bill amid “alarming reports of private, unauthorized drones causing mission-critical aircraft to be grounded during firefighting and medical response operations, putting pilots, firefighters, civilians and property at unnecessary risk.” SB-170 would have made it a felony to use a drone to deliver contraband into a prison or county jail, Gaines website said. The legislation would have also made it a misdemeanor to fly a drone over a prison as well as to intentionally capture images of a prison using a drone. SB-271 would have prohibited the use of drones to fly over or capture images of school grounds, without written authorization from the school district, Gaines’ website said. Brown encouraged the legislature to “pause and reflect on how our system of criminal justice could be made more human, more just and more cost-effective,” in his veto message, saying the bills increased the complexity and particularization of criminal behavior without a clear benefit.
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed three bills on unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, proposed by state Sen. Ted Gaines (R), citing concerns with criminalizing conduct when the state’s prison and jail populations “have exploded,” in a veto message Saturday. Gaines said SB-168 would “protect forests, property and the lives of citizens, firefighters and emergency personnel from drone interference” by increasing fines for drone use that interferes with firefighting and emergency responders, in a September 2015 news release. “The bill also seeks to grant civil immunity to any emergency responder who damages an unmanned aircraft in the course of firefighting, air ambulance, or search-and-rescue operations,” the release said. Gaines said he proposed the bill amid “alarming reports of private, unauthorized drones causing mission-critical aircraft to be grounded during firefighting and medical response operations, putting pilots, firefighters, civilians and property at unnecessary risk.” SB-170 would have made it a felony to use a drone to deliver contraband into a prison or county jail, Gaines website said. The legislation would have also made it a misdemeanor to fly a drone over a prison as well as to intentionally capture images of a prison using a drone. SB-271 would have prohibited the use of drones to fly over or capture images of school grounds, without written authorization from the school district, Gaines’ website said. Brown encouraged the legislature to “pause and reflect on how our system of criminal justice could be made more human, more just and more cost-effective,” in his veto message, saying the bills increased the complexity and particularization of criminal behavior without a clear benefit.
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed three bills on unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, proposed by state Sen. Ted Gaines (R), citing concerns with criminalizing conduct when the state’s prison and jail populations “have exploded,” in a veto message Saturday. Gaines said SB-168 would “protect forests, property and the lives of citizens, firefighters and emergency personnel from drone interference” by increasing fines for drone use that interferes with firefighting and emergency responders, in a September 2015 news release. “The bill also seeks to grant civil immunity to any emergency responder who damages an unmanned aircraft in the course of firefighting, air ambulance, or search-and-rescue operations,” the release said. Gaines said he proposed the bill amid “alarming reports of private, unauthorized drones causing mission-critical aircraft to be grounded during firefighting and medical response operations, putting pilots, firefighters, civilians and property at unnecessary risk.” SB-170 would have made it a felony to use a drone to deliver contraband into a prison or county jail, Gaines website said. The legislation would have also made it a misdemeanor to fly a drone over a prison as well as to intentionally capture images of a prison using a drone. SB-271 would have prohibited the use of drones to fly over or capture images of school grounds, without written authorization from the school district, Gaines’ website said. Brown encouraged the legislature to “pause and reflect on how our system of criminal justice could be made more human, more just and more cost-effective,” in his veto message, saying the bills increased the complexity and particularization of criminal behavior without a clear benefit.
Despite some recent hang-ups for CBP's plans to update regulations governing customs brokers, Troy Riley, executive director of CBP's Office of Commercial Targeting and Enforcement, is hopeful that the agency will put out an official request for comments on proposed changes by the end of 2015, he said in an Oct. 2 interview. The inclusion of a required ratio of licensed customs broker employees remains uncertain, but is unlikely to continue to hold up the proposal, said Riley. The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America previously asked CBP to add a requirement that national permit holders should employ at least one licensed customs broker for every 12 employees (see 14072222).
Doing away with the network nonduplication rule should be put on the back burner until the FCC first tackles possible changes to the totality of circumstances test and until the GAO has finished a proceeding on whether compulsory copyright licenses should be eliminated, NBCUniversal said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 10-71. Network nondupe protects against network programming duplication, helping preserve the value of programming and ensuring local broadcasters have the dual revenue stream of advertising revenue and retransmission consent fees that they rely upon, NBCUniversal said. The rule also "serves as an essential counterweight" to compulsory copyright licensing, giving a route for protecting nonduplication rights, and Congress has been clear that it sees value in the protections that come with the exclusivity rules, NBCUniversal said. "It is a hollow argument to suggest that the Commission's limited role in enforcing nonduplication protection is no longer needed because the parties can craft private remedies and then, in a separate and ongoing proceeding, proposed to eviscerate those same remedies," NBCUniversal said, pointing to the FCC's looking at changes to the totality of circumstances test. The filing recapped meetings between a variety of NBCUniversal executives and Commissioners Michael O'Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's chief of staff.
Doing away with the network nonduplication rule should be put on the back burner until the FCC first tackles possible changes to the totality of circumstances test and until the GAO has finished a proceeding on whether compulsory copyright licenses should be eliminated, NBCUniversal said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 10-71. Network nondupe protects against network programming duplication, helping preserve the value of programming and ensuring local broadcasters have the dual revenue stream of advertising revenue and retransmission consent fees that they rely upon, NBCUniversal said. The rule also "serves as an essential counterweight" to compulsory copyright licensing, giving a route for protecting nonduplication rights, and Congress has been clear that it sees value in the protections that come with the exclusivity rules, NBCUniversal said. "It is a hollow argument to suggest that the Commission's limited role in enforcing nonduplication protection is no longer needed because the parties can craft private remedies and then, in a separate and ongoing proceeding, proposed to eviscerate those same remedies," NBCUniversal said, pointing to the FCC's looking at changes to the totality of circumstances test. The filing recapped meetings between a variety of NBCUniversal executives and Commissioners Michael O'Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's chief of staff.
The Senate’s FCC reauthorization legislation hit a roadblock, at least for the moment, officials from the telecom and media industries told us. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., first announced wanting to reauthorize the FCC at the start of this year. It hasn't been done since 1990. He produced an unreleased reauthorization draft in June that pulled together many of the FCC process overhaul and transparency measures found in legislation from Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.