by WashingtonsBlog
Obama Names Top Fundraisers to Major Political Posts
Glenn Greenwald notes today:
Last week, the Obama administration announced its choice to lead the Federal Communications Commission: Tom Wheeler, who is not only a former telecom lobbyist but also a huge bundler for the Obama campaign. The New York Times Editorial Pagetoday explains that this choice is “raising serious questions about [Obama's] 2007 pledge that corporate lobbyists would not finance his campaign or run his administration.” [...]
Wayne Green is an American publisher and writer, and consultant. He was formerly editor of CQ magazine before he went on to found 73, 80 Micro, Byte, CD Review, Cold Fusion, Kilobaud Microcomputing, RUN, InCider, and Pico, as well as publishing books and running a software company. In the early 1980s, he assisted in the creation of the groundbreaking Brazilian microcomputing magazine, Micro Sistemas (Portuguese).
Licensed by the Federal Communications Commission [...]
From the Boston Globe:
“Widespread problems with cellphone service around Boston on Monday after the Marathon bombings put the limits of the nation’s wireless network into sharp relief, as the nation’s top carriers were unable to cope under the heaviest loads during the most crucial moments.
…The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the wireless industry, would not comment on the performance of the local cell networks Monday.
…None of the carriers would comment [...]
The federal government wants to create super WiFi networks across the nation, so powerful and broad in reach that consumers could use them to make calls or surf the Internet without paying a cellphone bill every month.
The proposal from the Federal Communications Commission has rattled the $178 billion wireless industry, which has launched a fierce lobbying effort to persuade policymakers to reconsider the idea, analysts say. That has been countered by [...]
by Jim Kouri
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
“If an Air Force general blows the whistle on the Obama White House, does anyone in the media hear the corruption?”
A United States Air Force general is blowing the whistle on another alleged White House scandal, but few in the news media seem to be listening.
According to General William [...]
Lisa Garber
NaturalSociety.com
January 7, 2013
Smart meters—utility meters that use radio frequencies (RF) to report data to utility offices for billing and other purposes—may be harmful to your health.
Just ask Joe Esposito, on whose home the Public Service Company of Oklahoma slapped a smart meter despite his explicit wishes it not be installed. Shortly after installation, Esposito began to experience tooth aches, constant tingling, and aches in his leg that kept him [...]
‘Loud Commercials’ Will Be Banned From TV Starting Dec. 13 Thanks To The FCC
Beginnning Dec. 13, those commercials will cease to exist. That’s when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission will start enforcing in earnest the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM Act, enacted in 2010. The FCC’s new rules will require broadcast-television stations and pay-TV providers to make sure advertisements have the same average volume as the programs they [...]
 Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
from Wikipedia:
The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. It was adopted as a response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, which is a type of general search warrant, in the American Revolution. Search and seizure (including arrest) should be limited in scope according to specific [...]
The mobile industry’s at war over cellular privacy—or free speech—depending on how you look at it.
The Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday that it’s accepting comments on a petition that seeks to have Internet-to-phone text messaging declared a type of autodialing. The technology, which collects cell numbers without consent and then messages them via created email addresses, isn’t currently covered under the Technology Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and some consider it [...]
President Barack Obama was a guest at the 1991 wedding of ABC senior foreign correspondent and vice presidential debate moderator Martha Raddatz, The Daily Caller has learned. Obama and groom Julius Genachowski, whom Obama would later tap to head the Federal Communications Commission, were Harvard Law School classmates at the time and members of the Harvard Law Review.
After TheDC made preliminary inquiries Monday to confirm Obama’s attendance at the wedding, [...]
A wireless company profiting from the so-called “Obama phone” giveaway program is run by a prominent Democratic donor whose wife has raised more than $1.5 million for the president since 2007.
Last week a video of a President Barack Obama supporter in Ohio claiming to have received a free phone from the president—“[Obama] gave us a phone!”—went viral, prompting media outlets to investigate.
Since 1985 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has operated a program called Lifeline, originally [...]
A program that provides subsidized phone service to low-income individuals has nearly doubled in size in Ohio in the past year — now covering more than a million people. At the same time, federal officials say they’re reining in waste, fraud and abuse in the program.
The Federal Communications Commission announced recently that reforms have saved $43 million since January and are expected to save $200 million by year’s end. In [...]
(CNSNews.com) – Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski defended his agency’s role in regulating broadband Internet, saying that the FCC needed to act like a “cop on the beat.”
“We need to protect and promote competition,” Genachowski said at a speech to media firm Vox Communications in Washington on Tuesday. “We know from decades of experience that when it comes to competition in the communications sector, the FCC needs to be a [...]
The Federal Communications Commission is eyeing a proposal to tax broadband Internet service.
The move would funnel money to the Connect America Fund, a subsidy the agency created last year to expand Internet access.
The FCC issued a request for comments on the proposal in April. Dozens of companies and trade associations have weighed in, but the issue has largely flown under the public’s radar.
“If members of Congress understood that the FCC is contemplating [...]
Noel Brinkerhoff
All Gov
July 15, 2012
Like other Internet service providers, Verizon is fighting to derail the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) rules for network neutrality. But Verizon has set itself apart from other ISPs with its legal arguments for why the FCC’s Open Internet Order should be tossed out.
In its legal brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, Verizon lawyers claim the FCC has exceeded its regulatory [...]
The end of the Supreme Court term is quickly approaching. Along with landmark decisions about the health reform law and Arizona’s controversial immigration law, there are interesting cases having to do with the FCC, obscenities on television, jail sentences for minors and people who lie about receiving the medal of honor.
Here’s what to look out for between now and the final decisions being handed down before the end of the month:
Fleeting expletives and [...]
Today the court is handing down decisions, possibly in the Arizona Immigration Law case.
Make your Prediction on:
1. Az Immigration law
2a. Heathcare Mandate
2b. Heathcare Servability
3. Stolen Valor Act
The end of the Supreme Court term is quickly approaching. Along with landmark decisions about the health reform law and Arizona’s controversial immigration law, there are interesting cases having to do with the FCC, obscenities on television, jail sentences for minors and people who lie about receiving [...]
Probe into search engine deemed ‘low priority’ because firm was co-operative
Google was handed eight-point ‘improvement plan’ to ensure privacy was no longer breached
The privacy watchdog was last night accused of being ‘caught napping’ over claims that Google deliberately harvested information from home computers.
It emerged last night that the Information Commissioner had designated its audits into Google’s privacy policy as ‘low priority’ simply because the firm’s attitude was co-operative.
This is despite [...]
From LewRockwell.com:
Google knew software for its Street View fleet could secretly collect personal data, including e-mails, pictures, and text messages from unprotected wi-fi networks, it has been claimed.
Documents seen by America’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) apparently show an engineer created the snooping technology called gstumbler which could capture data from inside residents’ homes as teams toured the country.
One particular document shows that the engineer flagged up privacy implications and said [...]
Work of Street View cars to be examined over allegations Google used them to download personal details
Emails, texts, photos and documents taken from wi-fi networks as cars photographed British roads
Engineer who designed software said a privacy lawyer should be consulted
Calls for police and Information Commissioner to investigate new evidence
Google is facing an inquiry into claims that it deliberately harvested information from millions of UK home computers.
The Information Commissioner data protection [...]
Work of Street View cars to be examined over allegations Google used them to download personal details
Emails, texts, photos and documents taken from wi-fi networks as cars photographed British roads
Engineer who designed software said a privacy lawyer should be consulted
Calls for police and Information Commissioner to investigate new evidence
Google is facing an inquiry into claims that it deliberately harvested information from millions of UK home computers.
The Information Commissioner data protection [...]
The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance.
In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities, CNET [...]
Guardian.co.uk
A Washington-based ethics watchdog is calling on federal regulators to revoke News Corporation‘s 27 Fox broadcast licences in the wake of the highly critical report on phone hacking from the UK parliament.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) has written to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, calling on the regulator to pull the plug on Rupert Murdoch‘s lucrative television licences on grounds of character.
The letter argues that the final report [...]
From NYT:
SAN FRANCISCO — Google’s harvesting of e-mails, passwords and other sensitive personal information from unsuspecting households in the United States and around the world was neither a mistake nor the work of a rogue engineer, as the company long maintained, but a program that supervisors knew about, according to new details from the full text of a regulatory report.
The report, prepared by the Federal Communications Commission after a 17-month investigation of Google’s [...]
The “engineer” took the 5th amendment.
The $25,000 fine is a drop in the bucket.
The FCC wanted Google to turn over the data collected to the government. Google wanted to destroy the data, but couldn’t get permission from the government to destroy it.
This is not an acceptable “conclusion” to the “mistake”.
From Bloomberg:
Google Inc. (GOOG) employees who worked on a mapping-service project told the U.S. Federal Communications Commission they didn’t initially know about software that [...]
You can buy Fat Bastard wine in Alabama, but you’ll have to go elsewhere for Dirty Bastard beer.
The state alcoholic beverage control agency said Thursday it has banned the sale of that brand of beer in the state because of the profanity on its label.
Beer and wine are commonly sold in grocery and convenience stores and anyone can see the labels, so staff members rejected the brand because parents may [...]
From Bloomberg:
Billionaire Phil Falcone’s hedge fund, which tumbled by almost half last year because of a troubled wireless venture, is paying a 15 percent interest rate for a $190 million loan, almost triple what the riskiest corporate borrowers pay, said two people with knowledge of the loan. The loan is backed by all of the fund’s assets, according to the people. In addition to LightSquared, they include a 27 percent stake [...]
The stated rationale for the Fairness Doctrine was to encourage more information to be aired by radio and TV stations, on the theory that private broadcasters would tend to underprovide a public good-news about important social issues. Yet, the danger has been seen, at the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Communications Commission, and elsewhere, that there exists a potentially unconstitutional “chilling effect”: the prospect of having to award equal (unpaid) [...]
Posted on Thu Feb 02 2012 10:51:58 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time) by tutstar
Actual title is : It’s baaack! The plan to kill talk radio. Group advising White House wants to restore controversial policy
An organization that helped to craft President Obama’s environmental policies has recommended the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine, purportedly as a method of silencing critics of the theory of global warming.
The Presidential Climate Action Project, or PCAP, last year released an [...]
By Sara Jerome, NJ
Updated: December 13, 2011 | 4:02 p.m.
December 13, 2011 | 3:43 p.m.
The Federal Communications Commission cemented rules on Tuesday to make TV commercials a little less annoying.
The rules prevent TV providers, such as cable and broadcast companies, from spiking the volume of commercials so they are louder than the volume viewers choose for their normal programming.
The rules passed in a unanimous, bipartisan vote, fulfilling a mandate from last [...]
Feds analyze strange glitches and failures in creepy alert system test
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
November 10, 2011
Federal government officials have begun pouring over data from Wednesday’s Emergency Alert System test, in an effort to discover what went wrong in many areas of the country and how complete control of the nation’s airwaves can be achieved.
During the thirty second test, many cable and broadcast television viewers saw only a blank screen. Radio stations are [...]
It’s only a test, but nerves are somewhat frayed over the first nationwide exercise of the system designed to alert Americans of national emergencies.
The test occurs at 1900 GMT Wednesday, November 9, and may last over three minutes — longer than the typical 30 seconds or one minute for most broadcast test messages.
According to a message being circulated by local school and government officials, there is “great concern in local [...]
If you have ever wondered about the government’s ability to control the civilian airwaves, you will have your answer on November 9th.
On that day, federal authorities are going to shut off all television and radio communications simultaneously at 2:00PM EST to complete the first ever test of the national Emergency Alert System (EAS).
This isn’t a wild conspiracy theory. The upcoming test is posted on thePublic Safety and Homeland Security Bureau website.
Only [...]
The Federal Register’s publication of The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s illegal Net Neutrality regulations happened this week. That is the final step towards their illegal implementation on November 20th.
The Federal Communications Commission on December 21st illegally voted themselves – in 3-2 Democrat Party-line fashion – Internet Overlords with their unauthorized imposition of the job-killing regulatory nightmare that is Network Neutrality.
The opposition to this [...]
* Long-delay Open Internet rules clear OMB
* Federal Register publication expected in coming weeks
* Publication will allow rules to be challenged in court
WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Controversial new Internet rules adopted late last year by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission will soon be published officially, a step expected to trigger legal challenges.
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget signed off on the rules on Friday, according to a [...]
|
It only takes a few moments to share an article, but the person on the other end that reads it might have their life changed forever
Contact Information:
Submit: articles [ at ] investmentwatchblog.com
Advertising: ads [ at ] investmentwatchblog.com
General: admin [ at ] investmentwatchblog.com
|
FCC seeks to tax Internet service
The Federal Communications Commission is eyeing a proposal to tax broadband Internet service.
The move would funnel money to the Connect America Fund, a subsidy the agency created last year to expand Internet access.
The FCC issued a request for comments on the proposal in April. Dozens of companies and trade associations have weighed in, but the issue has largely flown under the public’s radar.
“If members of Congress understood that the FCC is contemplating [...]