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Connecticut Deregulates AT&T Video Service
by Michael Martinez
Utility regulators in Connecticut on Wednesday moved to exempt AT&T's video service from franchising rules.
The state Department of Public Utility Control voted 3-2 to classify AT&T's video system as a data service, allowing the company to bypass rules that apply to the cable industry. Data services are not regulated in Connecticut.
According to department Vice Chairman Jack Goldberg, AT&T's video service differs from those offered by traditional cable providers because it offers two-way communication and more closely resembles Internet telephone service.
AT&T officials have said the rule change will make the marketplace in Connecticut more competitive. But one of the state's most powerful public officials is not buying into the idea. In a statement released Wednesday, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the department is making a grave mistake by not regulating AT&T's Internet-based television service and by allowing the company to operate anywhere in the state that it sees fit.
"This new and exciting technology potentially provides real competition to increasingly expensive cable television, lowering prices and expanding service options, but only if service is available to all," Blumenthal said. He said video providers will only deploy their networks in wealthy neighborhoods if they are not regulated by the government.
He argued that "persuasive dissenting voices [in the ruling] coupled with deep reservations expressed by commissioners siding with the majority underscore the need for further scrutiny of this misguided decision."
State Consumer Counsel Mary Healy also criticized the department's decision. Regulators should reverse it "before damage is inflicted on the state's consumers, revenues and telecommunications market," she said.
Existing cable providers in Connecticut already have vowed to challenge the ruling. Paul Cianelli, the president of the New England Cable Telecommunications Association, said the state has earned the "dubious distinction of exempting telecommunications giant AT&T from cable television regulations deigned to protect the public."
"It is troubling and incomprehensible that a public consumer-protection agency would side with a giant, multinational corporation over Connecticut's consumers and taxpayers," Cianelli said. "It also shows bureaucratic arrogance for the agency to contradict the clear directives of Congress and the Connecticut legislature."
Videogame Industry Attacks Minnesota Law
The videogame industry on Tuesday fired back against a Minnesota measure signed into law by Gov. Tim Pawlenty last week to prevent retailers from selling violent games to minors.
The Entertainment Software Association filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in Minnesota to overturn the law on constitutional grounds. Similar laws in California, Illinois and Michigan have been struck down in the past year.
The Minnesota law is the first of its kind to make underage buyers of videogames subject to civil penalties. Under the statute, children younger than 17 who attempt to purchase restricted games are subject to $25 fines.
According to ESA President Douglas Lowenstein, the Minnesota statute unfairly targets products manufactured by the industry. He said parents ultimately are accountable for the content their children see. "The bill's tortured effort to end run the First Amendment by punishing kids directly fails under the Constitution because children have rights under the First Amendment, like all other citizens," Lowenstein said.
The law also was blasted by the Entertainment Merchants Association. In a statement, EMA President Bo Anderson said the statute does not withstand constitutional scrutiny.
"Legislators in the state of Minnesota have enacted a video-game restriction law that they apparently do not want enforced and understand cannot constitutionally be enforced," Andersen said. "Unfortunately, as a result of the legislature threatening to impose penalties on the children of Minnesota, it will be the taxpayers of the state who pay the penalty when this law is overturned, as it must be."
A potential legal battle for the videogame industry also is brewing in Louisiana, where the state Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill, H.B. 1381, to prohibit the sale of violent games to minors. The Senate opted to send the House measure to Gov. Kathleen Blanco, thus killing its own bill, S.B. 340, which only would target games with sexually explicit content.
Lowenstein said that the House bill is a "constitutional non-starter" and that the Senate bill would be more acceptable because the state could regulate access to explicit videogames in the same way it address films, books and television programs.
Colorado Targets Internet Predators
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens on Tuesday signed into law a bill to make soliciting minors over the Internet a felony and to boost the ability of prosecutors to pursue online sexual predators.
The measure, H.B. 1011, would require Internet service providers to retain records on their customers for 90 days within the issuance of court orders. It also would make the possession of 20 or more items of child pornography a felony requiring a minimum sentence of two years and three years of parole.
"Parents make every effort to protect their kids, but in the ever-changing world of the Internet, that can be difficult," Owens said.
The legislation is the main piece of a "Safe Surfing" initiative launched by state Attorney General John Suthers last year. According to Suthers, stiffer legislation and sharper investigations are only part of the solution. "Our best chance of protecting Colorado's children is to teach them how to avoid becoming a victim in the first place," he said.
Owens also signed into law a bill, H.B. 1157, that would boost spending to secure the state's computer systems.
Washington 'Spyware' Suit Yields Third Settlement
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna on Tuesday announced that a New Hampshire man has agreed to pay $2,000 to settle a lawsuit over his alleged involvement in a deceptive advertising scheme to install malicious software onto people's computers.
Seth Traub, a resident of Portsmouth, N.H., has become the third person to settle in the state's first lawsuit under its new law against secretly installed computer "spyware."
According to prosecutors, Traub crafted online ads to look like they were from Microsoft and used them to bait consumers into purchasing software that told them their computers were infected with spyware. Traub also has been accused of using Google's advertising service to direct consumers to sites where they could download the product.
Traub agreed to settle the suit without admitting any wrongdoing.
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