By USDR
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today applauded theannouncement by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Communications Subcommittee Chairman of their plans to reform outdated communications laws.
“A comprehensive review of the Communications Act and how it applies to today’s changing technology is warranted, and CCAGW looks forward to further engaging with Congress as this movement proceeds.”
The Communications Act of 1934 was passed during the Great Depression and last updated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Dial-up modems were state-of-the-art technology in the 1990’s; the communications laws have since been overtaken by new technologies and are painfully out of date. The chairmen said they would begin the process of reforming the law next year with a series of hearings and white papers, hoping to enact a final bill sometime in 2015.
In December 2013, Citizens Against Government Waste will be publishing a comprehensive book titled Telecom Unplugged: Ushering in a New Digital Era, which will serve as a guide to communications reform.
CCAGW has been a long-standing advocate of Communications Act reform. The technology and telecommunications industries are vital, innovative sectors of the U.S. economy. Advances in these fields would also have a positive impact on other industries such as health care, education, transportation, and services.
“Continuing to apply twentieth-century rules and regulations to twenty-first century disruptive technologies and services will stymie innovation in a competitive marketplace,” said CCAGW President Tom Schatz. “A comprehensive review of the Communications Act and how it applies to today’s changing technology is warranted, and CCAGW looks forward to further engaging with Congress as this movement proceeds.”
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.
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