Florida Media Project and Florida PIRG’s Brad Ashwell are planning a statewide media-reform conference to take place in Sarasota on October 6-7. Possible topics could include Net neutrality, community wireless, and more. If you’re interested in attending, please contact Mark Kmetzko, mark@floridamediaproject.org.
For the full notice, see this post to the FFC discussion list.
Bill Kaczor, “Gov. Crist signs cable TV bill but asks for tighter enforcement,” South-Florida Sun Sentinel (via Associated Press), May 18, 2007.
Gov. Crist signed the video franchise bill that was passed during the legislative session. Several public interest and consumer organizations had asked Crist to veto the bill.
An update on our earlier coverage of freedom of information in the 2007 legislative session:
Michael C. Bender, “Bills aim to thwart ID theft,” Palm Beach Post, May 13, 2007.
The article has a summary of the bills relating to public records that passed the legislature this session. The legislature passed 25 bills relating to public records — 24 of which passed unanimously — three of which strengthen the state’s Sunshine Laws, and the rest of which contain various exemptions. The First Amendment Foundation, the state’s freedom of information watchdog group, characterized the exemptions as “pretty justifiable”. Several of the new exemptions are for personal information, such as Social Security numbers.
We previously wrote about the video franchise legislation considered in this year’s session in Tallahassee. Well, the bill passed, with provisions that weren’t good, so now public interest groups are asking Gov. Crist to veto the bill.
John Kennedy, “Consumer Groups Want Plug Pulled on Cable Bill,” Orlando Sentinel blog: Central Florida Political Pulse, May 8, 2007.
The groups behind the veto effort are Florida PIRG, Tampa Bay Community Network, Free Press, and Consumer’s Union. Here’s the press release from Free Press.
Gov. Crist has until May 18 to sign or veto the bill, or it will pass into law without his signature.
Update: There’s also an AP story which has been picked up by outlets across Florida (here it is in the Gainesville Sun). The Political Whore at Creative Loafing Tampa also has a post.
Update 2: The Palm Beach Post has an editorial urging a veto.
Update: The St. Petersburg Times is also calling for a veto.
Competition is only a smoke screen to rationalize the industry’s mad dash to win the most lucrative markets. … This is a terrible bill, and the governor should veto it.
Update: Florida Consumer Action Network is now urging a veto. The Consumer Federation of the Southeast, Consumer Federation of America, and ACORN have also joined the bandwagon since the initial post.
Update: Henry Troxler at the St. Petersburg Times has a column in which he hopes Gov. Crist will veto the bill.
Update: The Florida Media Project, the Alliance for Community Media, and The Education Channel are all supporting a veto, as are the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Chapter of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisers. The U.S. Department of Justice, on the other hand, is supporting the bill, as part of the department’s “competition advocacy” (relating to antitrust law). The Orlando Sentinel has an editorial endorsing a veto.
In totally unrelated news, BellSouth spent more on lobbying than anyone else during the legislative session, more than $1 million — and that doesn’t even include the last month of the session, for which data are not yet available. The Miami Herald article calls the cable bill “the biggest special-interest food fight” of the session.
Ed Christman, “NARM Coverage: New Laws Threaten Used CD Market,” Billboard.biz, May 1, 2007.
… Florida and Utah have passed second-hand goods legislation, sometimes referred to as pawn-shop laws, that could make the buying and selling of used CDs much more onerous to stores and less attractive to customers looking to sell music they are no longer interested in owning.
In Florida, the new legislation requires all stores buying second-hand merchandise for resale to apply for a permit, would be required to thumb-print CD sellers and get a copy of their state-issued identity documents, such as a driver’s license. Furthermore, stores could only issue store credit — not pay cash — in exchange for traded CDs, and then would be required to hold them for a 30-day period, before re-selling them.
See also posts and discussion at Ars Technica, Idolator, Slashdot, and Wired’s Listening Post. The latter confirms that the law does not apply to sales of used CDs online.
(via Boing Boing)
Following on the resolution that UF’s Student Senate passed in May 2006, two more student governments have issued official statements of support.
(Via Open Access News)
A Sun editorial has a follow-up to the new psuedo-trademark rights I wrote about earlier this month:
“Counterfeit rockers,” editorial, Gainesville Sun, April 29, 2007.
The Legislature has passed a bill to make it illegal for a band to bill itself as a well known oldie group unless at least one current member actually did play in the original group.
“It’s really a consumer rip-off protection,” Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, chair of the Truth in Music Committee of The Vocal Group Hall of Fame Foundation, and a one-time member of the 1970s group Sha Na Na told reporters. Apparently, aging boomers with failing eyesight and tin ears are being duped by rockers who claim to be who they are not. Clearly this is a case for the rock police (not to be confused, of course, with the original rock band The Police).
Just how dire is this threat to rock integrity?
Florida Free Culture is a student group at the University of Florida. Our mission is:
We are named for Lawrence Lessig's book, Free Culture, and are a chapter of FreeCulture.org.
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