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FCC Boss Being Investigated
Enemies and critics begin to take aim...

Congress is ramping up their investigation into FCC boss Kevin Martin, sending him a new letter (pdf) demanding a wide variety of documentation from the agency. Martin's tendency to rush meetings, leak information, pick on the cable industry and support the elimination of media consolidation laws have put the FCC boss under fire from all fronts, and both parties, for various reasons. The letter, signed by House Democrats and Republicans, says they're exploring claims from former FCC employees and other sources of potential "fraud and abuse" at the agency.

Meanwhile the GAO, which has previously faulted the FCC for leaks and their poor methodology used to track the nation's broadband penetration, issued a new study today showing the FCC also does a poor job tracking citizen complaints.
quote:
The analysis examined data encompassing 454,000 complaints between 2003 and 2006. The GAO, which is the investigative arm of Congress, said the FCC processed about 95 percent of the complaints it received, opened about 46,000 investigations and closed 39,000. About 9 percent of the closed investigations resulted in an enforcement action and 83 percent resulted in no enforcement. The GAO said it was unable to determine why the investigations were closed without action because "FCC does not systematically collect these data."
The FCC has two weeks to hand over requested documentation to Congress.
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Robert
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Miami, FL

Robert

Premium Member

Repost?

Wasn't this news posted yesterday on here? Or am I having deja vu?
gaforces (banned)
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA

gaforces (banned)

Member

Re: Repost?

I think the other article was about him sidestepping getting fired by Congress. This article is different in that now he is being investigated more thoroughly.

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

RadioDoc to Robert

to Robert
You are probably thinking of...
»Martin Side Stepped Forced FCC Exit [29] comments
...from earlier in the week.

Nothing like a good old fashioned political witch hunt in an election year. I'm no Kev fan but this looks more like Congressional grandstanding than anything of substance.

N3OGH
Yo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano
Premium Member
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs

1 recommendation

N3OGH

Premium Member

Re: Repost?

Congressional grandstanding in an election year?

I demand you retract that statement, sir! You most certainly are a racist, a communist, a space alien, and a homoSEXHSUALLL for implying such a thing!
jc10098
join:2002-04-10

jc10098

Member

Re: Repost?

And a TERRORIST, EVIL-DOER, and Supporter of Terror.

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

RadioDoc to N3OGH

to N3OGH
Yeah, and I hate the troops and children, too.

N3OGH
Yo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano
Premium Member
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs

N3OGH

Premium Member

Re: Repost?

GASP!

Won't someone please think of the CHILDREN!

john131971
join:2003-05-05
Louisville, KY

john131971

Member

Re: Repost?

If this only saves one child, then I'm for it...
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned) to RadioDoc

Member

to RadioDoc
said by RadioDoc:

You are probably thinking of...
»Martin Side Stepped Forced FCC Exit [29] comments
...from earlier in the week.

Nothing like a good old fashioned political witch hunt in an election year. I'm no Kev fan but this looks more like Congressional grandstanding than anything of substance.
Time to throw tea into the harbor again.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

Re: Repost?

We can set up a trendy cafe. Door man will unhook the boardwalk chain to let you into the cafe, VIP treatment all the way, be sure to wear a life preserver.
SunnyFL8
Premium Member
join:2001-02-08

SunnyFL8

Premium Member

Duplicate?

Is this a dupe post? I thought I read this already.

Either way. Its not new to me. Martin is a Bell Fan boy.

Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium Member
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT

Subaru

Premium Member

This was news on here not long ago

But not the first time this has been known..

Dogfather
Premium Member
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA

Dogfather

Premium Member

Best committee Comcast can buy

»www.opensecrets.org/poli ··· cle=2008

With the industry buying off politicians like Committee Chair Dingell, is anyone really surprised they're going after Martin?
MOTO6809
join:2007-11-05
Springfield, MA

MOTO6809

Member

Re: Best committee Comcast can buy

said by Dogfather:

»www.opensecrets.org/poli ··· cle=2008

With the industry buying off politicians like Committee Chair Dingell, is anyone really surprised they're going after Martin?
I just surprised it took this long.

PolarBear03
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium Member
join:2005-01-03

PolarBear03

Premium Member

Let's Broadcast!

said by article :

About 9 percent of the closed investigations resulted in an enforcement action and 83 percent resulted in no enforcement.
Sounds like it's time to start up an unlicensed radio station! WOOHOO!

jimbo48
join:2000-11-17
Asheville, NC

jimbo48

Member

FCC ineptitude

And they wonder why the various providers are so blatantly anti- customer. They have a 91% chance of never being brought up an any violations of the FCC laws unless they pissed of the jack-asses in Washington.

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

1 recommendation

RadioDoc to PolarBear03

to PolarBear03

Re: Let's Broadcast!

The vast majority of those complaints are generated by right-wing religious fanatic organizations' "complaint-o-matic" campaigns because someone saw a nipple poking into a tee shirt, or someone hearing "damn" or "piss" or "hell" or "liberal" on TV. They deserve to be ignored.

Unlicensed broadcasting gets you a $10,000 fine. I hope your credit is good.

cdru
Go Colts
MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN

cdru

MVM

Re: Let's Broadcast!

said by RadioDoc:

The vast majority of those complaints are generated by right-wing religious fanatic organizations' "complaint-o-matic" campaigns because someone saw a nipple poking into a tee shirt, or someone hearing "damn" or "piss" or "hell" or "liberal" on TV. They deserve to be ignored.
Actually the vast majority of complaints are generated by right-wing religious fanatic organizations. They are generated by a single right wing religious fanatic organization. I don't have any recent numbers, but this article references that ParentsTV.org accounted for 99.8 to 99.9% of the complaints in 2000 and 2001. Those complaints originate using their cookie cutter form that allows you to easily spam the FCC. The PTC even bitched and moaned to the GAO because the FCC doesn't treat the e-mail complains as serious as "real" ones.
NetLarry
join:2007-03-18
Johnstown, PA

NetLarry

Member

Elementary School Math

Hmmm. 9% + 83% = 92%

Where did 8% of the complaints go?

Could some employees of the FCC also be receiving money from telcos to "lose" those complaints?

No, can't be. Government employees are paragons of honesty and virtue.
/* end sarcasm */

NetLarry

texans20
Premium Member
join:2002-09-28
Texas!

1 recommendation

texans20

Premium Member

FCC Needs To Go

The FCC need to go, and replaced with a very small department with one goal: To ensure radio devices do not interfere with each other.

funchords
Hello
MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA

funchords

MVM

Complaint Disposition Reason issue is Congressional Bulloney

I'm sorry. I don't like the Republicans, nor do I like what Powell and Martin did to broadband competition. I am, of course, happy to see that what Comcast did was offensive enough even to Margin that it appears that action is coming.

The following offends my sensibilities:

...quoting the article...
a new study today showing the FCC also does a poor job tracking citizen complaints.
Can we compare the FCC with the FTC for a moment? How many innocent people have been scammed for thousands by Internet fraud, while the FTC lets Western Union pocket the profits from these acts? Other than erecting a "be careful" web page, they've done nothing.
83 percent resulted in no enforcement
Why? Because that's the way it works. The FCC and FTC can't do everything. It has to pick and choose its battles. The number of complaints about any one particular thing is certainly a factor, as is the impact of the issue within the complaint. They can't close a complaint as "unfounded" because the complaint probably wasn't unfounded.

The metric important to me is whether they picked from among the issues pool those things with concern the most people and those things that concern people the most. Everything else falls into some varying degree of "optional," IMHO.
Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium Member
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO

1 recommendation

Corydon

Premium Member

Re: Complaint Disposition Reason issue is Congressional Bulloney

said by funchords:

The metric important to me is whether they picked from among the issues pool those things with concern the most people and those things that concern people the most. Everything else falls into some varying degree of "optional," IMHO.
I think that like all politicians, they pick the issues that have the most vocal complainers, not necessarily the issues that concern the most people. Thus it's no big surprise that they go after things like Janet Jackson's nipple and P2P.

tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Gulfport, MS

tc1uscg

Member

Wakeup call

Oh.. guess congress finally woke up (to the tune of millions of "BRIBES" masquerading as "lobby money") to what's going on over at the FCC. Welcome to the party guys. Now do something about this chump gone wild.

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

Transmaster

Member

Total Crap

I am not defending Kevin Martin but really this is all Congress is doing demanding documents and investigating, mean while nothing else is getting done. If I was Martin I would send The House of Representative a case of TP so they can wipe off their lips after I told them to kiss my ass.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

Immunity

I thought being bought and paid for by the industry gave you immunity from such investigations. Especially since so much of congress had been bought and paid for as well by the very same telecom groups.

To think there is nothing better for congress to do than have yet another hearing into "corruption". What they really need to do is hold a hearing on an organization that has no corruption. That would be news indeed.

jubangy
Premium Member
join:2005-03-26
Corry, PA

jubangy

Premium Member

Re: Immunity

said by n2jtx:

I thought being bought and paid for by the industry gave you immunity from such investigations. Especially since so much of congress had been bought and paid for as well by the very same telecom groups.

To think there is nothing better for congress to do than have yet another hearing into "corruption". What they really need to do is hold a hearing on an organization that has no corruption. That would be news indeed.
Except they probably can not find any