Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the New Jersey Supreme Court in Libertarians for Transparent Government v. Cumberland County. This case concerns access to non-litigation settlement agreements between public employees and public agencies under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”), an issue of first impression [...]
FOR RELEASE: April 1, 2021 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., April 1 – Media Institute President Richard T. Kaplar issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on FCC media ownership regulation in FCC v. Prometheus Radio Project: “The Media Institute applauds the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 4-1-21 In a victory for Facebook, but what some legislators call a misinterpretation that could open the robocall floodgates, the Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that its automatic texting regime for informing a user when someone is trying to log into their account from a new device does not [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 4-1-21In a big victory for broadcasters and the Republican FCC under Ajit Pai, the Supreme Court has reversed the Third Circuit's decision throwing out the FCC's broadcast deregulation under former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Current acting chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel had voted against the deregulatory move.In 2017, the FCC had unanimously [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-31-21 The FCC will vote at the April 22 open meeting to adopt new disclosure requirements when foreign entities buy airtime on U.S. broadcast outlets. "If you are consuming programming broadcast over the public airwaves, you have the right to know who is behind that content," said acting FCC [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-31-21 Michael Powell, president of NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, is not happy with the Biden infrastructure plan's focus on subsidizing government-built broadband networks or potentially regulating the prices of private ones. He suggested the Biden plan has misdiagnosed the problem – which is getting broadband to where it [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-31-21 President Joe Biden is signaling that his infrastructure investment plan, which the White House is billing as a jobs plan, will achieve the goal of both "universal and affordable" high-speed broadband in this decade, with the $100-billion price tag Hill Dems have been pushing. The White House will [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-31-21 Advocates for a secure and safe online environment for kids have filed a complaint against Google with the Federal Trade Commission seeking an investigation into what they said are app recommendations for kids that don't comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Google counters that it [...]
Former FCC Commissioner Also Joins First Amendment Advisory Council FOR RELEASE: March 31, 2021 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., March 31, 2020 – Michael O’Rielly, whose career as a public servant in Washington spanned more than three decades and included service in the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, [...]
By Randolph May and Seth Cooper, Multichannel News, 3-30-21 With the war on the pandemic still not won, California’s veterans are at risk of losing access to a mobile internet app, called VA Video Connect, that enables veterans to receive telehealth services without incurring data usage charges. This is a consequence of California’s newly effective [...]