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Big Apple Opposes Federal Telecom Bills
by Michael Martinez
The New York City Council on Wednesday urged federal lawmakers to vote against pending legislation to let video providers bypass local regulators and obtain nationwide franchises.
The council approved a resolution that calls upon the state's congressional delegation to oppose four separate telecommunications bills currently being considered by the House and Senate. The resolution was passed without objection.
It targets a bill, H.R. 5252, endorsed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to let new video providers apply for national franchises with the FCC. The House measure would not require market entrants to provide service to low-income or rural areas.
Other bills condemned by the New York City Council included S. 1349, S. 1504 and H.R. 3416. It does not mention draft legislation crafted by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
The resolution notes that the city "depends on universal, affordable broadband access and that the only way to achieve this objective is if New York City has the authority to regulate at the local level to help increase and improve broadband services for underserved residents." The council contends that eliminating local franchising rules would reduce the compensation the city receives from private companies for rights-of-way to deploy wires for high-speed Internet video.
Furthermore, the resolution states that the bills would stifle financial support for public, educational and government channels, or PEG programming.
In a statement, Council Member Gale Brewer said that undercutting local authority on such matters would harm consumers. "If this legislation passes Congress, New Yorkers will have to call the FCC ... if they have a problem with their cable TV service or Internet connection," Brewer said. "That would be an outrage and affront to the residents of New York City."
The Manhattan Neighborhood Network, the group responsible for administering PEG services in that borough, lauded the council's decision. "The local franchising process has ensured that local communities and local voices are properly served," network Executive Director Dan Coughlin said in a release. "This is especially important in a city as diverse and unique as New York, where some 140 languages are spoken in public schools."
E-Voting Trouble Snags States
A group of Arizona voters on Wednesday announced plans to file a lawsuit against the state's top elections official over voting machines that they claim are dysfunctional.
The suit, which was filed with the support of the California-based group Voter Action, seeks a temporary injunction to prevent Secretary of State Jan Brewer from purchasing Diebold and Sequoia voting equipment for use in this year's elections. The group said the devices are neither secure nor reliable.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors last week postponed its purchase of $2 million worth of Diebold voting machines because of concerns about their security.
"The Arizona voters we represent want to prevent the expenditure of millions of dollars on electronic voting systems that are neither trustworthy nor transparent, and that would affect election security well into the future in our state," said Paul Eckstein, a lawyer representing the group.
Meanwhile, The Morning Call reported last week that Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortes has issued a warning to county elections officials about a "potential security vulnerability" in Diebold machines authorized for use throughout the state.
Cortes said Diebold discovered a glitch in the machines that allow unauthorized software to be installed on their memory systems. As a result, elections officials in several counties have locked their equipment to keep it safe from tampering until primary elections later this month.
Election officials in Ohio also are investigating problems with memory cards in voting equipment deployed in the Cleveland area that marred primary elections conducted there May 2.
The Plain Dealer reported earlier this week that the Cuyahoga Elections Board is investigating the matter. Elections Director Michael Vu said poll workers lost 70 memory cards data on thousands of votes from the county's Diebold machines. He also said technical problems with the equipment forced poll workers to manually count about 15,000 absentee ballots.
San Antonio Sues Hotel-Booking Sites
The San Antonio City Attorney on Monday announced a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against a group of hotel-booking Web sites.
The suit alleges that Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Priceline.com and Travelocity.com failed to pay state and local occupancy taxes. City Attorney Michael Bernard said he is seeking to recover all of the lost tax revenue for San Antonio, a city with an economy largely dependent on tourism.
The complaint, which was filed in a U.S. district court in Texas, is only directed at the Internet businesses that book rooms for guests and collect taxes on the transactions. It does not seek any money from the hotels themselves.
"These Web-based hotel-booking companies are not only taking money away from our city but also from every business and every employee involved in the San Antonio tourism industry," Bernard said in a release. "San Antonio's hard-working business owners and residents don't deserve to see city tax dollars increasing the profits of online vendors rather than benefiting our city."
Tech Official Accused Of Embezzlement, Theft
Prosecutors in Nevada last week charged the state's top information security official with theft, embezzlement, falsifying public records and attempted unlawful use of public money.
A complaint filed by Attorney General George Chanos accuses Chief Information Security Officer Randy Potts of supplying the state with false information in his request to attend a homeland security conference in Denver last year. Potts asked the state to reimburse him for more than $1,700 in expenses incurred on the trip.
According to the complaint, Potts doctored a flier for the conference included in his reimbursement request, changing the date on which the event occurred. The request Potts allegedly filed claimed the conference began last November, but prosecutors said the event was actually held in April 2005.
Chanos launched an investigation into the matter in March. Potts has been on administrative leave since the probe began. Nevada Chief Information Officer Terry Savage has not yet made an announcement regarding Potts' employment status.
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