NEW WARNINGS
Television Advertising Leads to Unhealthy Habits in Children
FTC Searches for a More Explicit E-Mail Warning
BROADBAND/INTERNET
Governors Press for Limits on Internet Tax Ban
Is Broadband Set to Make Power Lines Sing?
Speech: Rural Lands Of Opportunity: Broadband Deployment In America's
Heartland
NEW WARNINGS
TELEVISION ADVERTISING LEADS TO UNHEALTHY HABITS IN CHILDREN
Advertisers spend an estimated $12 billion per year on advertising messages
aimed at the youth market. Research shows that children under the age of
eight are unable to critically comprehend televised advertising messages
and are prone to accept advertiser messages as truthful, accurate and
unbiased. This can lead to unhealthy eating habits as evidenced by today's
youth obesity epidemic. For these reasons, a task force of the American
Psychological Association (APA) has developed the following
recommendations: 1) Restrict advertising primarily directed to young
children of eight years and under. Policymakers need to take steps to
better protect young children from exposure to advertising because of the
inherent unfairness of advertising to audiences who lack the capability to
evaluate biased sources of information found in television commercials. 2)
Ensure that disclosures and disclaimers in advertising directed to children
are conveyed in language clearly comprehensible to the intended audience
(e.g., use "You have to put it together" rather than "some assembly
required"). 3) Investigate how young children comprehend and are influenced
by advertising in new interactive media environments such as the Internet.
4) Examine the influence of advertising directed to children in the school
and classroom. Such advertising may exert more powerful influence because
of greater attention to the message or because of an implicit endorsement
effect associated with advertising viewed in the school setting.
The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the
largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in
the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists.
There's much more information at the URL below.
[SOURCE: American Psychological Association Press Release]
http://www.apa.org/releases/childrenads.html
See also:
Information or Manipulation?
Washington Post coverage of the APA report includes reaction from the
advertising community: 1) the industry already has a voluntary code for
children's advertising, 2) the courts would look dimly at attempts to
regulate commercial speech, 3) parents have a responsibility to advise
children on an ad's truthfulness and 4) a restriction targeting under-8s
would be unenforceable as 9 and 10 year olds watch close to the same media.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Caroline Mayer]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A659-2004Feb23.html
FTC SEARCHES FOR A MORE EXPLICIT E-MAIL WARNING
In the first of seven rules the Federal Trade Commission is required make
under the Can-Spam Act, the Commission has proposed that the warning
"SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT-CONTENT: " appear in the subject line of any
non-solicited email that contains "material that many recipients may
consider vulgar or pornographic in nature." An FTC study found that 17% of
pornographic offers contain sexually explicit images and 40% of those
sampled by agency staff had fake information in the "from" or "subject"
lines that could mislead recipients about the nature of the content.
Additional protections are also proposed by the FTC including an electronic
brown wrapper that will allow viewing only after several other affirmative
clicks are taken by the recipient to get to the image. A ruling is expected
in mid-March. When this proceeding is completed, the FTC will begin work on
creating a Do Not Spam list similar to the Do Not Call list for telephones.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cindy Skrzycki]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A938-2004Feb23.html
BROADBAND/INTERNET
GOVERNORS PRESS FOR LIMITS ON INTERNET TAX BAN
Govs Mike Huckabee (R-AK), Jim Doyle (D-WI) and Ed Rendell (D-PA) said
Monday they would try to scale back Congressional efforts to permanently
ban Internet access taxes, saying it could cost states billions in
revenues. They would like to see another temporary ban so policymakers can
figure out how to handle new services like Internet telephony. Two former
governors now in the Senate -- Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Delaware Democrat
Tom Carper (D-DE) -- have introduced a bill that would start another
temporary ban. The bill is competing against another that would enact a
permanent ban.
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Andy Sullivan]
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=SKXQET0SX5FMYCRBAEZS...
IS BROADBAND SET TO MAKE POWER LINES SING?
Earlier this month, the FCC began a proceeding on rules governing the
provision of high-speed Internet access over power lines. The hope is that
broadband over power line (BPL) could jump start broadband deployment,
especially in rural areas. Already Internet service provider EarthLink has
announced it will begin testing a broadband service using power lines
leased from Progress Energy, an electricity company that serves the
Carolinas and central Florida. The company will charge ~$40/month for the
service. There are technical concerns and regulatory ones as well including
interference with amateur radio and public safety users. And the key
regulatory battle may not be at the FCC, but at state-level public utility
commissions which regulate power companies.
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Jim Hu]
(http://news.com.com/)
The FCC released this rulemaking online yesterday, see
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-29A1.doc
Also see the Commission's Press release at
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-243879A1.doc
SPEECH: RURAL LANDS OF OPPORTUNITY: BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT IN AMERICA'S HEARTLAND
Fifty million Americans now access the Internet from home using high speed
connections. But as the pace of broadband deployment continues to
accelerate, FCC Chairman Micael Powell told the Kansas Rural Broadband and
Telemedicine Summit, "we must work together to ensure that individuals
living in rural America are not left behind in the digital migration."
Rural America has the most to gain from broadband deployment. Chairman
Powell highlighted the economic development potential of broadband
deployment and the community development potential of broadband to address
health, education and homeland security needs. He also outlined The Rural
Action Plan he announced last August: 1) Create Licensed Wireless Policies
that Encourage Rural Deployment, 2) Rural "Wireless Internet Service
Providers", 3) Advanced Services Through Satellite and 4) Comprehensive
Outreach Program.
[SOURCE: FCC]
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-244205A1.pdf
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Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary service
provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday through
Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments,
policy issues, and other related news events. Headlines are compiled by
Kevin Taglang (ktaglang( at )etpost.net) -- we welcome your comments.
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