Congressional Research Service Reports - 17 Matching Results
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- The Federal Communications Commission: Current Structure and Its Role in the Changing Telecommunications Landscape
- This report discusses the role of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), its appropriations requests for fiscal year 2018, and various proposals for restructuring the agency made in Congress.
- Telecommunications and Media Convergence: Selected Issues for Consideration
- This report provides an overview of selected topics that provide a broad overview of issues that are central to the telecommunications/media convergence debate.
- Spectrum Policy in the Age of Broadband: Issues for Congress
- This report discusses some of the commercial and federal radio frequency spectrum policy changes required by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. It also summarizes new policy directions for spectrum management under consideration in the 112th Congress, such as the encouragement of new technologies that use spectrum more efficiently.
- The Federal Communications Commission: Current Structure and Its Role in the Changing Telecommunications Landscape
- This report provides information about The Current Structure and Its Role in the Changing Telecommunications Landscape on the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC is an independent agency with its five members appointed by the president.
- The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA): Policies, Programs, and Funding
- The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency of the Department of Commerce, is the executive branch's principal advisory office on domestic and international telecommunications and information policies. Its mandate is to provide greater access for all Americans to telecommunications services, support U.S. attempts to open foreign markets, advise on international telecommunications negotiations, and fund research for new technologies and their applications. NTIA also manages the distribution of funds for several key grant programs.
- The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and All-Hazard Warnings
- This report discusses the mainstays of the U.S. capacity to issue warnings: the Emergency Alert System (EAS), which relies primarily on broadcasting media, the NOAA Weather Radio All-Hazards Network.
- Access to Broadband Networks: The Net Neutrality Debate
- 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.
- Public Safety Communications and Spectrum Resources: Policy Issues for Congress
- 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.
- The Emergency Alert System (EAS) and All-Hazard Warnings
- This report discusses the mainstays of the U.S. capacity to issue warnings: the Emergency Alert System (EAS), which relies primarily on broadcasting media, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio All-Hazards Network.
- The Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program: Funding Issues and Activities
- 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 that would be capable of addressing the problems and issues the government needed to solve and study.
- The Transition to Digital Television: Is America Ready?
- This report discusses the background and potential effects of the DTV Delay Act, which directs that all over-the-air full-power television broadcasts will become digital only.
- "Spam": An Overview of Issues Concerning Commercial Electronic Mail
- This report discusses Spam, also called unsolicited commercial email (UCE) or "junk email." Not only can Spam be a nuisance, but its cost may be passed on to consumers through higher charges from Internet service providers who must upgrade their systems to handle the traffic. Proponents of UCE insist it is a legitimate marketing technique that is protected by the First Amendment. This report discusses this issue in detail, as well as related legislation.
- Broadband Loan and Grant Programs in the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service
- This report provides information about the Broadband Loan and Grant Programs in the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service. The Broadband Loan and Grant Programs are intended to accelerate the deployment services in rural America.
- Emergency Communications Legislation, 2002-2006: Implications for the 110th Congress
- Since September 11, 2001, several bills introduced in the U.S. Congress have included provisions to assist emergency communications. Key provisions from a number of these bills have become law. This report summarizes progress in developing legislation, especially in the 109th Congress, in three areas of emergency communications: communications among first responders and other emergency personnel; emergency warnings and alerts; and 911 call centers and systems. Each area could be the subject of further consideration in the 110th Congress, through oversight, additional legislation, or funding.
- Communications Act Revisions: Selected Issues for Consideration
- This report provides an overview of selected topics which the 109th Congress may address in its examination of telecommunication issue.
- Satellite Television: Provisions of SHVIA and LOCAL, and Continuing Issues
- No Description Available.
- V-Chip and TV Ratings: Helping Parents Supervise Their Children's Television Viewing
- To assist parents in supervising the television viewing habits of their children, Congress included a provision in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-104) that television sets with screens 13 inches or larger sold in the United States be equipped with a "V-chip" to screen out objectionable programming. A V-chip is a computer chip that can detect program rating information that is transmitted with the television signal (broadcast or cable) and block the display of programs designated as unacceptable by parents. The use of the V-chip by parents is optional. In March 1998, the Federal Communications Commission approved technical standards for the V-chip and directed that manufacturers include V-chip technology in at least half of their product models by July 1, 1999, and the other half by January 1, 2000. At the same time, the Commission approved a program rating system developed and now used by most of the television industry. An age-based rating system was announced in December 1996.