He will fill the position vacated by Robert Croneberger, who died in February. The U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments December 1 in a lawsuit against implementation of the universal service program for telecommunications discounts for libraries and schools. SBC Communications and GTE want the court to overturn the Federal Communications Commission order implementing the program, maintaining that it forces telephone companies to carry too much of the burden for the subsidies and exceeds the scope of the law establishing the program, the CNet online news service reported December 1. It's not the way the law was written. A decision is not expected until next spring.
Courts change their minds every day, for crying out loud.
The laws that keep harmful materials from children offline are sufficient to police the Internet, the Virginia Governor's Commission on Information Technology concluded December 2. A 36-member group of key technology players from the private and public sectors, the commission unveiled the Legislative Framework for the Virginia Internet Policy Act, which lawmakers may begin considering in January. Nonetheless, the group recommended the creation of felonies for posting a child's contact information on a pornographic site or disseminating explicit materials for the purpose of engaging a youngster in a sex act. The union local representing 1,800 New York City librarians filed a lawsuit November 30 charging that the leaders of District Council 37, the city's biggest municipal union, embezzled, committed vote fraud, and took kickbacks. The librarians' local, along with one representing 2,800 motor-vehicle operators, is also suing the city for damages, maintaining that city officials should have known about fraud in the 1996 vote ratifying the union's contract.