AfterDawn: Tech news

Interim FCC head promises reform and transparency

Written by Rich Fiscus @ 28 Jan 2009 1:56 User comments (2)

Interim FCC head promises reform and transparency It's been less than a week since the resignation of Kevin Martin from his position as Chairman of the FCC, but his temporary replacement is wasting no time making some changes. Commissioner Michael Copps, who is keeping the chairman's seat warm until Barrack Obama's nominee Julius Genachowski is approved by the Senate, has promised to improve agency communications and credibility.
In remarks made after his appointment as interim FCC Chairman Copps outlined three goals for the agency. The first is intra-agency communication. He promised the various internal divisions would work more closely together, saying "There is no reason I can see for not having the various Bureaus and Offices more closely collaborating with each other on issues of mutual interest." He added "If we can’t communicate with ourselves, we shouldn’t have the word “Communications” in our title."

He also indicated there would be more and better communication between the commissioners and those same internal bureaus. He plans to hold a weekly meeting with the head of each bureau and office in attendance. He's also inviting each commissioner to send a representative. Just a few days ago Commissioner Robert McDowell criticized the outgoing chairman for not involving his colleagues in agency planning.



Finally he talked about the FCC's responsibility to let individual citizens take part in policy discussions and decisions. This was one area that former Chairman Martin was often criticized for, even by the Government Accountability Office (GAO)."Regardless of whether a person is rich or poor, lives in a rural or urban area or on tribal lands, in affluence or is struggling just to get by, whether they have a disability or are senior citizens or college students, they are—each and every one of them—a stakeholder." said Copps "The spectrum is theirs and the rest of us are stewards."

Acting Chairman Copps didn't make any specific mention of the upcoming DTV transition which is making headlines across the US. Perhaps he's hoping the bill currently working its way through Congress will postpone it long enough to leave it in the hands of Martin's successor.

Previous Next  

2 user comments

128.1.2009 19:30

Here's your transparency, we take bribes in the form of regulatory fees from to allow comcast and others to do what they want under the guise of regulation and we censor TV and radio because the wooly masses are not able to handle reality anymore.

Thar theres your transparency.....

229.1.2009 17:31

Sirius/XM stock is at .11 cents complements of the lined pockets of the FCC. Thanks for screwing the long term investors!

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments
How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller (11 Feb 2023 1:04)
Google shut down its streaming game service Stadia late last month and this means that some people have Stadia controllers lying around that seem to be of no use. That is fortunately not the ....
2 user comments
Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account (26 Jan 2023 2:14)
Sharing a Netflix account with a person in a different location is possible and indeed very common, although the company doesn't necessarily enjoy this behavior from their customers. However, ....

News archive