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Cable Industry Backs Calif. Telecom Bill
by Michael Martinez
A comprehensive telecommunications proposal in California might be on the fast track for the governor's office now that the cable industry is backing the bill.
At a state Senate committee hearing earlier this week, Dennis Mangers, the president of the California Cable and Telecommunications Association, said the cable industry would back a measure to overhaul the state's video-franchising rules if lawmakers embrace amendments that he said would foster a competitive market.
The bill, A.B. 2987, would let new entrants to the state's video market sidestep local governments by applying for statewide franchises. The Bell telephone companies have lobbied hard for such an arrangement because they believe existing rules that require them to reach separate agreements with localities have slowed their entry into the market.
The cable industry expressed vigorous opposition to the measure over the past several months. But now that an amendment to allow existing video providers to opt out of current agreements and obtain new statewide contracts is on the table, Mangers said cable providers are willing to endorse the bill.
"Ultimately, if we're going to support it, we'd like for it to be a good bill to opt in to," Mangers said in a phone interview Wednesday. He expects the amendment to be adopted in a Senate panel hearing Thursday. The bill sailed through the state Assembly last month.
If the amendment is approved, the bill's primary opposition would be relegated to organizations that represent local governments. Megan Taylor, director of communications at the League of California Cities, said it would set a dangerous precedent to allow cable companies to break their contracts with local governments.
"We're not sure it's legal," she said. "We're not sure the legislature can enact a law that allows them to abrogate local contracts. This could tie up everything in lawsuits."
Mangers said the proposal would withstand legal scrutiny because it would only allow video providers to terminate their local agreements in markets where new entrants also have applied for statewide franchises.
But according to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, the proposal could hurt consumers by making it more difficult to file complaints about service.
"AT&T's power grab may have been limited by the Senate committee ... but it is still deeply troubling for consumers who will lose the power to turn to local elected officials and local franchises when they need to straighten out serious problems with their service or their rates," foundation President Jamie Court said in a statement issued Tuesday.
"The Senate still has a long way to go before the proposed state franchise comes close to approximating the consumer protections, equal-access requirements and accountability that goes with a system of local franchise control."
Indiana To Pay $8.3 Million In E-Rate Case
The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that the state of Indiana and its Intelenet Commission have agreed to pay $8.3 million to settle allegations of making false claims and statements in connection with a federal program to provide funding for schools and libraries to connect to the Internet.
According to prosecutors, Indiana officials violated various requirements of the e-rate program and charged inflated prices to participating schools and libraries. Justice also alleged that Indiana officials falsified invoices and engaged in non-competitive bidding practices.
The Intelenet Commission, the public-private agency that was in charge of Indiana's e-rate program, was replaced last year by Gov. Mitch Daniels with the state's office of technology.
"The e-rate program makes federally mandated funds available to the poorest schools in the nation for Internet access and wiring," Peter Keisler, assistant attorney general for Justice's civil division, said in a statement. "False claims to this very important federal program will not be tolerated."
Pennsylvania Lawmaker Pushes Cyber-Bullying Law
A lawmaker in Pennsylvania plans to introduce a measure that would prohibit Internet users from "bullying" each other in chat rooms and on message boards, Web logs and other online forums.
The proposal by Pennsylvania Sen. Jane Orie would make cyber bullying a criminal offense in the Keystone State and require schools to adopt policies to punish students who engage in it. In a letter circulated last month among her colleagues to gather support for the proposal, Orie blamed popular social-networking sites for giving children a public forum to ridicule each other.
"There have been reported instances of high-school students copying published photos of other students and maliciously using the photos of these students on Internet blogging sites such as Myspace.com, Xanga.com and others," she said.
Orie said the sites also let users misrepresent the identities of other people for malicious purposes. She said unauthorized postings often include doctored photos and phony profiles. Furthermore, they frequently contain the names, telephone numbers and home addresses of those the profiles were created to ridicule.
"Because of the normal inadequate impulse control in teens, unsupervised online access to these blog sites can result in such behavior," she said. "But many of these students also admit to making up 'fake' screen names, not normally associated with their real identity, simply to mock or ridicule another student or express anger against someone."
Pennsylvania Senate Aides Indicted In Extortion Case
A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted two former aides to Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent Fumo for allegedly destroying digital evidence sought by investigators.
Leonard Luchko and Mark Eister, who both served as computer technicians in Fumo's office, were arrested by the FBI in May for allegedly deleting e-mails relevant to the FBI's probe into whether Fumo extorted money from a nonprofit organization in his district. The indictment brought no new charges against them.
According to the indictment, Luchko and Eister were ordered by Fumo to delete the e-mails. In a 2004 e-mail sent to office staff obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Luchko said his boss had ordered him to clamp down on computer security.
"The FBI probe into the senator has really set him off," Luchko said. "He wants us to start doing a number of security checks starting tomorrow. ... He wants all of the BlackBerries wiped."
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