Congressional Research Service Reports - 39 Matching Results

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open access

Protecting Consumers and Businesses from Fraudulent Robocalls

Description: This report discusses efforts by Congress and the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) to combat robocall scams and prevent them from reaching consumers. It includes an overview of what robocalls are, their legitimate uses, regulation, and complaint procedures for consumers.
Date: October 10, 2018
Creator: Figliola, Patricia Moloney
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Net Neutrality Debate: Access to Broadband Networks

Description: This report discuses debates and regulations regarding net neutrality and broadband internet's classification as a telecommunication service in a 2015 rule that was upheld in court in 2016. A major focus in the debate is concern over whether the current regulatory framework as delineated in the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) 2015 Open Internet Order is the appropriate approach to ensure access to the Internet for content, services, and applications providers, as well as consumers, … more
Date: October 17, 2017
Creator: Gilroy, Angele A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The FCC's Political Broadcasting Regulations

Description: This report provides an overview of the Federal Communication Commission's political broadcasting regulations, including general public interest obligations; the equal opportunity (equal time) regulations; and the various interpretations of the Fairness Doctrine, which is no longer enforced by the Commission. A brief section of frequently asked questions regarding political broadcasting is also provided.
Date: October 27, 2004
Creator: Welborn, Angie A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Telemarketing: Dealing with Unwanted Telemarketing Calls

Description: This report provides summaries of the federal laws and regulations particular to telemarketing, the establishment of a national do-not-call registry, and on the options that are available to consumers to attempt to limit the calls that they receive from telemarketers and to report questionable telemarketing practices to local or federal authorities. The report also lists sources of additional information with addresses, phone numbers, and Internet sites (if available) and will be updated as leg… more
Date: October 5, 2004
Creator: Riehl, James R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Television Satellite and Cable Retransmission of Broadcast Video Programming Under the Copyright Act’s Compulsory Licenses

Description: This report reviews the history and background of the cable and television satellite licenses of the Copyright Act, reviews the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1994, and notes recent developments, including: the 1997 satellite license rate adjustment; pending bills relating to the compulsory licenses; and the August 1997 report of the Copyright Office on these licenses.
Date: October 5, 1998
Creator: Schrader, Dorothy
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Access to Broadband Networks: The Net Neutrality Debate

Description: This report discusses the current debate over "net neutrality." While there is no single accepted definition of "net neutrality," most agree that any such definition should include the general principles that owners of the networks that compose and provide access to the Internet should not control how consumers lawfully use that network, and they should not be able to discriminate against content provider access to that network.
Date: October 29, 2009
Creator: Gilroy, Angele A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Open Access Publishing and Citation Archives: Background and Controversy

Description: This report begins with an inventory of basic information: definitions and guides to histories of the growth of open access publishing and citation archives and descriptions of selected major open access activities. It moves on to summarize major points of difference between proponents and opponents of nongovernmental open access publishing and databases, and then highlights federal, including National Institutes of Health (NIH), open access activities and contentious issues surrounding these d… more
Date: October 10, 2006
Creator: Knezo, Genevieve J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Digital Television: An Overview

Description: This report provides an overview about Digital Television.Digital Television is a new telivision service representing the most significant development in telivision technology since the advent of color telivision.
Date: October 17, 2005
Creator: Kruger, Lennard G.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Access to Broadband Networks: The Net Neutrality Debate

Description: This report discusses the current debate over "net neutrality." While there is no single accepted definition of "net neutrality," most agree that any such definition should include the general principles that owners of the networks that compose and provide access to the Internet should not control how consumers lawfully use that network, and they should not be able to discriminate against content provider access to that network.
Date: October 25, 2011
Creator: Gilroy, Angele A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Text and Multimedia Messaging: Emerging Issues for Congress

Description: This report covers issues for Congress regarding text and multimedia messaging. The increasing use of text and multimedia messaging has raised several policy issue, such as distracted driving, SMS spam, the inability of consumers to disable text messaging, text messaging price fixing, carrier blocking of common short code messages, deceptive and misleading common short code programs, protecting children from inappropriate content on wireless devices.
Date: October 17, 2008
Creator: Moloney Figliola, Patricia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Reauthorizing the Satellite Home Viewing Provisions in the Communications Act and the Copyright Act: Issues for Congress

Description: This report discusses the regulatory framework for the retransmission of broadcast television signals by satellite television operators,the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1994, the 1999 Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA), and the 2004 Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA)
Date: October 9, 2009
Creator: Goldfarb, Charles B.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Public Safety Communications and Spectrum Resources: Policy Issues for Congress

Description: This report discusses pieces of legislation passed by Congress that are intended to help surmount failures in public safety radio communications such as insufficient interoperability among radio systems, a problem that hampered rescue efforts on and after September 11; and insufficiently robust networks, a shortcoming revealed after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.
Date: October 14, 2009
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Text and Multimedia Messaging: Emerging Issues for Congress

Description: This report covers issues for Congress regarding text and multimedia messaging. The increasing use of text and multimedia messaging has raised several policy issue, such as distracted driving, SMS spam, the inability of consumers to disable text messaging, text messaging price fixing, carrier blocking of common short code messages, deceptive and misleading common short code programs, protecting children from inappropriate content on wireless devices.
Date: October 22, 2009
Creator: Moloney Figliola, Patricia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Telework for Executive Agency Employees: A Side-by-Side Comparison of Legislation Pending in the 111th Congress

Description: S. 1000, the Telework Enhancement Act of 2007, and H.R. 4106, the Telework Improvements Act of 2008, are currently pending in the 110th Congress. Under the pending legislation and Senate amendments, the heads of executive branch agencies would be required to establish policies under which employees (with some exceptions) could be eligible to participate in telework. This report presents a side-by-side comparison of the provisions of S. 1000, as reported; H.R. 4106, as passed by the House.
Date: October 20, 2008
Creator: Schwemle, Barbara L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Spectrum Policy in the Age of Broadband: Issues for Congress

Description: This report considers the possibility of modifying spectrum policy: (1) to support national goals for broadband deployment by placing more emphasis on attracting new providers of wireless broadband services; and (2) to accommodate the wireless broadband needs of industries that are considered by many to be the economic drivers of the future, not only communications, but also areas such as energy, health care, transportation, and education.
Date: October 22, 2009
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Video Relay Service: Program Funding and Reform

Description: This report provides an introduction on how video relay service works and the program overview. It discusses the fundamental restructuring of the program to support innovation and competition.
Date: October 22, 2013
Creator: Moloney Figliola, Patricia
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program: Background, Funding, and Activities

Description: This report discusses the federal government's role in the country's information technology (IT) research and development (R&D) activities. The government's support of IT R&D began because it had an important interest in creating computers and software that would be capable of addressing the problems and issues the government needed to solve and study.
Date: October 22, 2013
Creator: Figliola, Patricia Moloney
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Funding Emergency Communications: Technology and Policy Considerations

Description: This report identifies areas where changes in existing policies and practices may facilitate achievement of the important goals for emergency communications that Congress and others have identified. Why these goals have become important, and recent planning efforts to achieve these goals, is discussed first. Next, possible barriers to achieving these goals are identified and described. The conclusion revisits key options presently under consideration by Congress.
Date: October 4, 2011
Creator: Moore, Linda K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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