June 25, 2010
Clark Rector Jr., Executive
Vice President - Government Affairs
Dunn
Anderson-Sweet, Federation Intern
- Conference Committee Rejects Expanded FTC Authority
- Intel and FTC
- Lobbyists Go to Work on Internet Rules
- NBC-Comcast Deal
- State Attorneys General to Investigate Google
Conference Committee Rejects Expanded FTC Authority
At approximately 3:40 on the morning of Friday, June 25, the
House members of the financial regulatory reform conference committee
finally relented to the Senate members and agreed not to include expansion
of rulemaking authority for the Federal Trade Commission in the final bill
to be sent the the President. This important victory for advertising,
business and consumers did not come easy. House Energy and Commerce
Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif. pushed hard to have the language
included in the bill. It was included in many of the House counter-offers
during the negotiations. Had the provision passed, the Commission would
have had vitually unlimited powers to enact industrywide rules regulating
truthful advertising and other legal business activities. Many AAF members
contacted their members of Congress on this important issue. Those efforts
played a key role in this last minute victory for the advertising
industry.
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Intel and FTC
The FTC's antitrust case brought against Intel Corporation
regarding its corporate practices could come to a conclusion in the near
future. The Commission has proposed guidelines in which Intel can deal
with competitors and its clients to help prevent alleged monopolistic
practices. In addition, it would force the chip maker to license its
technology to such competitors under rules governed by the FTC. Intel
maintains its business model is lawful and simply provides discount prices
at better rates than its competitors.
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Lobbyists Go to Work on Internet Rules
U.S. Regulators and representatives of firms such as
AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Google Inc. and Skype Ltd met
recently to discuss the Federal Communications Commission's plans to
regulate the Internet. The meeting was intended to find areas of agreement
among the parties. Public interest groups are upset that they were not
included in the meetings.
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NBC-Comcast Deal
The deadline has passed for interested groups to comment to
the FCC regarding the proposed purchase of NBC by Comcast. The FCC has
indicated that an approval would come with conditions such as a guarantee
that some programming - such as the NFL- will not be moved from NBC to a
pay service. Comcast has stated "We've committed since the deal was
announced to preserve and strengthen the over-the-air business model in
the challenging economic environment facing broadcasters."
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State Attorneys General to Investigate Google
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and as many
as 30 other state AG's have announced their intent to investigate Google's
inadvertent collection of personal information from unsecured Wi-Fi
networks while collecting data for its Google Maps site. Blumenthal has
said that Google needs to "provide a complete and comprehensive
explanation." Google has acknowledged the error to federal lawmakers and
has suspended data collection. U.S. House leaders have asked the FTC to
clarify its jurisdiction over the issue.
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AAF Government Report is available to all members of the AAF. If you are interested in receiving an e-mailed copy, please e-mail government@aaf.org.
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