News

WASHINGTON — Six public interest organizations filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday encouraging the agency to protect consumers from misleading, confusing and harmful advertising and billing practices by phone, cable and wireless providers.

WASHINGTON — According to news reports, Comcast may soon move one step closer toward taking a controlling interest in NBC Universal. Shareholders of Vivendi, which owns 20 percent of NBC Universal, are expected to meet on Wednesday to consider selling their stake in the company.

WASHINGTON – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker will attend a hearing Thursday morning in San Diego to help shape the agency’s national broadband plan. The public event, which is focused on “the transformational change that is resulting from the confluence of mobility and broadband,” was announced less than 48 hours before its scheduled start time.

WASHINGTON — Today, the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet voted to pass The Local Community Radio Act (HR 1147). The legislation, introduced by Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.), would allow for hundreds of new Low Power FM (LPFM) radio stations in communities across the country.

WASHINGTON — AT&T announced Tuesday that it will stop restricting iPhone applications on its 3G wireless network that use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). AT&T’s blocking of VoIP was exposed in August by a Federal Communications Commission inquiry into why iPhone users on AT&T’s network were denied access to the Google Voice application.

WASHINGTON — In a legal brief filed Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Free Press and five other organizations backed the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to protect Internet users’ right to an open Internet.

WASHINGTON — Free Press welcomes the release of Informing Communities, a new report by the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. The report examines the challenges facing media and journalism, the information needs of local communities, and it presents a vision for the future of journalism and the media.

WASHINGTON — Today, Free Press released Digital Déjà Vu: Old Myths about Net Neutrality, a new issue brief that dispels the arguments from big phone and cable companies and opponents of Net Neutrality. The report exposes false claims about investment, regulation, competition and other prevalent issues.

WASHINGTON — AT&T filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission on Friday asking the agency to investigate whether the Google Voice application is blocking some calls. In the letter, AT&T misguidedly claims that Google Voice is violating the FCC’s Internet Policy Statement, though this statement applies only to Internet access services — not to applications or Web services.

WASHINGTON — Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski today proposed new Net Neutrality rules that would protect the open Internet on all wired and wireless networks.