September 30, 2011

Groups Weigh In on Marketing Guidelines

A group of 75 academics in nutrition and public health have sent a letter to President Obama asking him to support the IWG guidelines. The letter claims that food marketing works since if affects children’s food choices, but it does not offer any evidence of a link to obesity.

Children's Privacy Hearing Scheduled

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade has scheduled a hearing for October 5, entitled, “Protecting Children's Privacy in an Electronic World." Witnesses will include:
•Stephen Balkam, Family Online Safety institute (FOSI)
•Professor Kathryn Montgomery, American University
•Hemanshu Nigam, SSP Blue
•Morgan Reed, Alliance for Competitive Technology (ACT)
•Jim Steyer, Common Sense Media

Net Neutrality Under Fire

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, has said she will push for a Senate vote on a resolution expressing disapproval of the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules. The rules, which were approved last December, are scheduled to go into effect November 20. A similar measure passed the House earlier in the year.
Advocacy group Free Press has filed suit challenging the rules, claiming they do not go far enough to protect consumers. The group argues that the FCC gave wireless carriers too much leeway in deciding how to handle online traffic and adopted different standards for wireless and wireline providers.
Early in the year AAF member Verizon Communications filed a federal lawsuit against the net neutrality rules maintaining that the FCC does not have jurisdiction over how Internet service providers handle content over their networks, but the suit was dismissed as being premature.

Advertising Bills Introduced in Florida

Florida State Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, has introduced legislation allowing school districts to sell advertising on school buses, and the state to sell ads on state trails and greenways. The bills would prohibit ads that promote tobacco or alcohol use, political ads and ads that are “not child and community sensitive.” Wise argues that the measure would raise revenue without having to raise taxes of fees. AAF has taken no position on the issue.