The Senate Commerce Committee revealed the latest bill aimed at protecting children online -- a measure requiring Internet education in schools receiving E-rate funds. The measure’s emphasis on education departs from other proposals that would label Web sites as explicit or require ISPs to maintain records for certain amounts of time.
Internet disclosures are prominent in lobbying reform legislation (HR-2316) that the House passed last week, according to campaign finance group Democracy 21. Lobbying disclosure reports must be filed electronically; a searchable online database must be set up for disclosure reports, with direct links to information in FEC reports; and the House clerk must post online members’ reports on trips and their financial disclosure reports. “The House has taken a major step forward in addressing the lobbying and ethics scandals that occurred in the last Congress,” but the bill must still be reconciled with the less-favorable Senate version, Democracy 21 said. The ACLU, National Right to Life and other strange left-right bedfellows also praised the House action for leaving out an amendment that could have classified their online and offline communications as regulated lobbying. The bill “gets to the true heart of the matter by targeting the corporate Goliaths and allowing the Davids to continue their battles in the halls of Congress,” said Caroline Fredrickson, ACLU Washington legislative office dir.
A host of Internet-related bills may pass Congress through sneaky channels in the lame-duck session, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) warned in an update to its “Internet Watch List” of flagged bills (WID Sept 15 p8). The bills cover electronic surveillance and telco immunity for participation in it, mandatory Web labeling for loosely defined “sexually explicit” websites, data retention for ISPs, the audio flag to limit playback options for recorded music, and blocked access to social networking and chat sites in libraries. Also Mon., CDT filed comments with the FTC about its $3 million settlement with adware maker Zango (WID Nov 7 p1).
The blogging “revolution” is not yet here, but bloggers do affect politics by targeting “influentials” who spread the word, experts said Wed. The media listen, and politicians had better listen, they said.
The FCC is overstepping its authority in an inquiry of video news releases (VNRs), said RTNDA. It called the effort unconstitutional govt. oversight of newsroom decisionmaking. It’s legal for TV stations to air such promotional materials as long as they aren’t paid for them, the group said in response to a private report that found 77 TV stations had aired VNRs without disclosing them (CD April 7 p5). Media activists involved in the April report said they disagreed.
This election year, a simple campaign site may not be enough. Candidates are turning to social networking and even virtual reality to court voters, and with new technologies come privacy concerns.
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is “prepared to move forward with litigation” if court-ordered changes to Utah’s overturned adult content registry law (WID Aug 30 p5) aren’t sweeping, staff attorney John Morris told us. But CDT won’t say what changes would satisfy it, beyond a declaration that repealing “a lot of pieces” would “fix the problems.” The law required adult content providers to respect a sort of Do Not Call list for Utah children’s e-mail addresses. The state attorney general and other defendants have until Nov. 1 to draft amendments to the law to make it constitutional, then get legislators to introduce them. Defendants promised to do so last year but didn’t, Morris said: “We are willing to give them one more chance to do that” and will delay until spring 2007 discovery in anticipation of trial unless CDT considers changes inadequate.
Despite strong Democratic opposition, Senate Judiciary Committee Chmn. Specter (R-Pa.) plans mark up next week of the electronic surveillance bill (S-2453) so it can get to the Senate floor. “I know there is opposition,” he said: “But frankly I find the arguments hard to understand.” Specter had a hearing Wed. on the bill where top security officials told why they need surveillance reforms the bill proposes (WID July 27 p3).
Despite strong Democratic opposition, Senate Judiciary Committee Chmn. Specter (R-Pa.) plans mark up next week of the electronic surveillance bill (S-2453) so it can get to the Senate floor. “I know there is opposition,” he said: “But frankly I find the arguments hard to understand.” Specter had a hearing Wed. on the bill where top security officials told why they need surveillance reforms the bill proposes (CD July 27 p4).
Legislation narrowly tailored to preserve Internet neutrality, not amorphous network neutrality, is the path Congress should take, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) said Tues. The term “network neutrality” is imprecise, meaning different things to different players, the high-tech watchdog said. A more desirable model would leave pipeline providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast free to experiment with non-neutral arrangements elsewhere on their networks, CDT said.