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  2. November 2016

November 2016

After Election, Broadband Proponents Need to Go Local

[Commentary] Americans may be split in national politics, but when the topic is broadband, voters of all persuasions are supporting fewer restrictions on community-sponsored networks. The future of federal funding is uncertain, but that doesn't have to stop communities from moving forward with municipal, cooperative, and public-private broadband initiatives.

[Craig Settles is a broadband industry analyst, consultant to local governments, and author]

Hold on Commissioner Rosenworcel Nomination Lifted

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have lifted their holds on the re-nomination of Democratic commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to a second term on the Federal Communications Commission. Sen Markey's office had cited his questioning of the commissioner's commitment to consumers and competition, tied to her perceived issues with the set-top box proposal Sen Markey had helped prompt the FCC to propose. Sen Markey's office confirmed that the hold had been lifted, and apparently the senator had positive conversations with Commissioner Rosenworcel and what they called a commitment to proceeding on remaining items before the commission. If so, and if that included the set-top proposal, it would fly in the face of Republican warnings about voting any controversial items still before the commission.

FCC Enforcement Advisory--Robotext Consumer Protection--Text Message Senders Must Comply With The Telephone Consumer Protection Act

The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau issues this Advisory to promote understanding of the clear limits on the use of autodialed text messages, known as “robotexts.” The FCC is committed to protecting consumers from harassing, intrusive, illegal, and unwanted robotexts to cell phones and other mobile devices. The FCC has stated that the restrictions on making autodialed calls to cell phones encompass both voice calls and texts. Accordingly, text messages sent to cell phones using any automatic telephone dialing system are subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (“TCPA”). The term “automatic telephone dialing system” (or “autodialer”) covers any equipment that has the capacity to store or produce numbers to be dialed and dial them without human intervention but does not need to have the present ability to do so.

The TCPA places limits on autodialed calls and prerecorded- or artificial-voice calls to wireless numbers; emergency numbers; guest or patient rooms at hospitals, health care facilities, elderly homes, or similar establishments; and to any service for which the called party is charged for the call. The FCC’s corresponding rules restrict the use of prerecorded-voice calls and automatic telephone dialing systems, including those that deliver robotexts. The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau will rigorously enforce the important consumer protections in the TCPA and our corresponding rules. We expect this Advisory will facilitate compliance with the law and rules by those who initiate robotexts to mobile devices

Media outrage over press pool access plays right into Trump’s hands

[Commentary] We, as journalists, had better take extra care these days to strike the right balance between reacting and overreacting if we don’t want to be used as pawns in someone else’s strategy. Sometimes it seems that all the press wants is for President-elect Donald Trump to agree not to set up concentration camps—even as he confers with Republican leaders on how to completely dismantle what’s left of America’s public spaces, public institutions, and protections for the poor and the vulnerable. We will have our civil liberties, but nothing else.

[Lee Siegel is the author of five books and the recipient of a National Magazine Award for Reviews and Criticism.]

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