Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, in Digital First Media d/b/a The Trentonian v. Ewing Township. The case involves the New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The Trentonian requested Use of Force Reports (UFRs) compiled after police used [...]
By Diane Bart, Reuters, 9-6-19 Two groups of U.S. state attorneys general on Friday announced separate antitrust probes of large tech companies such as Alphabet’s Google and Facebook. The first probe, led by New York and including seven other states and the District of Columbia, focuses on Facebook. The second, announced by Texas and likely to [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 9-5-19 FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is proposing to "modernize" more media ownership rules at the FCC's September meeting, according to Pai, who has periodically taken out the regulatory weed whacker he promised to clear out some bureaucratic underbrush. The commission is scheduled to issue a tentative agenda Sept. [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 9-4-19 Turns out YouTube and parent Google will pay $170 million to settle allegations it violated children's privacy laws, the largest-ever fine for such a violation, with the government saying that YouTube does indeed contain child-directed content. That is according to the Federal Trade Commission on Sept. 4. [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 9-4-19 The FCC's new KidVid rule revamp takes effect Sept. 16, the FCC said this week, except for the reporting requirements that must still get approval from the Office of Management and Budget. The effective date was 30 days after the rule changes – adopted in July – [...]
Caroline Beasley of Beasley Media Group and Fred Ryan of Washington Post To Be Honored FOR RELEASE: September 4, 2019 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., September 4, 2019 – Two individuals widely known for their respective work in media policy and on-air journalism will present awards at The Media Institute’s [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 9-3-19 The Federal Trade Commission has revised and refined its list of broadband companies it is collecting info from related to their online privacy practices. Back in March, the FTC announced it was studying how broadband companies "collect, retain, use, and disclose information about consumers and their devices." [...]
Participated with other media organizations in a letter from the Reporters Committee to members of Congress expressing concern about the proposed dramatic expansion of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 (“IIPA”), one of the few laws that criminalizes the publication of truthful information about government activities. The letter notes that the bill expanding [...]
By Alex Gangitano, TheHill.com, 8-6-19 The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which represents the $43.4-billion U.S. video game industry, pushed back on attempts to connect games with gun violence. “More than 165 million Americans enjoy video games, and billions of people play video games worldwide. Yet other societies, where video games are played as avidly, do not contend with the [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 8-6-19 While Microsoft and broadcasters have come to some meeting of the minds on use of the so-called "white spaces" between TV channels for unlicensed broadband use, the computer company remains opposed to broadcasters retaining the first channel adjacent to a TV station's channel as a buffer between [...]