February 2008

SCRIPPS GIVING FREE AIRTIME TO CANDIDATES
[SOURCE: tvnewsday]
The E.W. Scripps Co. is launching Democracy 2008, a public discourse initiative that will make free airtime available to political candidates on the company’s nine network-affiliated television stations. They are: ABC affiliates WXYZ Detroit; WCPO Cincinnati; WEWS Cleveland; WFTS Tampa, Fla.; WMAR Baltimore; and KNXV Phoenix; and NBC affiliates WPTV West Palm Beach, Fla.; KSHB Kansas City, Mo.; and KJRH Tulsa, Okla. The Scripps stations will provide five minutes of free airtime to candidates nightly between 5 p.m. and 11:35 p.m. in the 30 days preceding the general elections. The stations also will provide free airtime as needed during the 30 days preceding primary elections. The Scripps television station had a similar free airtime policy during the national elections in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006.
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/02/27/daily.6/

FCC 'DO-OVER' ON NET NEUTRALITY HEARING?
[SOURCE: Portfolio, AUTHOR: Sam Gustin]
Following Comcast's acknowledgement that it had hired people to take up seats at an overcrowded Federal Communications Commission hearing at Harvard on Monday, the regulator agency is mulling whether a hold another public hearing on net neutrality. FCC spokesman Rob Kenny declined to speak publicly about the possibility of additional hearings, which were first reported on the blog Valleywag. From the outset of the FCC's investigation, the agency had held out the possibility of further hearings on Comcast's controversial "network management" practices.
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/daily-brief/2008/02/27/fcc-do-over-...

AT&T BILL HOLDS KEY TO FUTURE
[SOURCE: The Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, TN), AUTHOR: Ed Kimbrell]
[Commentary] For the past few weeks, behind closed doors at the state Capitol, American Telephone and Telegraph, Comcast cable, the Tennessee Municipal League, and selected legislators have been trying to forge a tortured compromise about the Internet's future in the state. What's at stake here? Simply, the future. There are billions of dollars of potential revenue on the table. AT&T is the largest wireless telephone provider in the nation, and if it bundles TV, Internet and telephone service into one package, it will be very difficult to turn it down by the average consumer. Cable argues AT&T will not provide universal service, picking only the lucrative cities and towns and leaving the rest unserved. AT&T already bundles wireless and wired telephone service. So, simply put, it could dominate the information and entertainment environment in the state at a time when the telephone is becoming the dominant information technology in the world. Only fools predict Oscar winners, Supreme Court decisions, and what our Legislature will decide, but it's obvious this is one of those times when law and compromise are overwhelmed by new technology. There's no Solomon able to make a decision about the cable-telephone war. Don't be surprised if the outcome this year isn't any different than last year's stalemate, because no one at the table wants to lose.
http://dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080228/OPINION02/802280319/1...

NOMINEES FOR PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD
[SOURCE: The White House]
President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate the following individuals to serve in his Administration:

1) The President intends to nominate Daniel W. Sutherland, of Virginia, to be Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board for an initial term of six years. Mr. Sutherland currently serves as an Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to this, he served in the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education. Earlier in his career, he served at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and on the Domestic Policy Council at the White House. Mr. Sutherland received his bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville and his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.

2) The President intends to nominate Ronald Daniel Rotunda, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board for an initial four-year term.

3) The President intends to nominate Francis X. Taylor, of Maryland, to be a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board for an initial two-year term.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/02/20080226-9.html

* Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board
The Board advises the President and other senior executive branch officials to ensure that concerns with respect to privacy and civil liberties are appropriately considered in the implementation of all laws, regulations, and executive branch policies related to efforts to protect the Nation against terrorism. This includes advising on whether adequate guidelines, supervision, and oversight exist to protect these important legal rights of all Americans.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/privacyboard/

* Ronald D. Rotunda
http://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/directory/rotunda_ronald
* Brig. Gen. Francis X. Taylor
http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=7344