The FCC Affected By the Federal Government Shutdown

Federal Government Shutdown:
After the Republicans in office rejected President Barack Obama's healthcare plan, Obamacare; the government has experience its first government shutdown in 17 years at the start of October (1). What does this mean for the Communications Act of 1934, plenty. The shutdown has deactivated all government services that are considered nonessential. What they feel is essential is police, fire fighting, armed forces, utilities and correctional officers (2). What this spells for the Communications Act of 1934 is the shutdown of the organization it created, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

FCC Shutdown:

The Federal Government-wide shutdown has marginalized the FCC's duties. The FCC is only to perform duties that are necessary for the safety of life or the protection of property. With the Federal Government shut down up in the air, the FCC's return to its regular function is indefinite. Telecommunications companies now have to turn to the Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) (3).

Services that the FCC usually provide but are now shutdown include the following: consumer protection, local competition, licensing services, and new electronic devices being produced to the general public (4).

FCC Workplace While Shutdown:
What this means for employees of the FCC. Workers have to get in shutdown mode, secure working area and cancel all plans such as flights or FCC sponsored events. 1,716 employees (98%) will be sent home and not working during the shutdown after they have already performed their final task. Only 38 workers (2%) of the people working at the FCC will still be operating under the FCC performing duties that are considered essential to the government (4).

Why the FCC is important:
Even though the Communications Act of 1934 has created a strong organization that has been shaped over the years to handle today's communication, the FCC finds itself shutdown and only providing duties related to security. The FCC provides many functions that's important for the nation in terms of consumerism, the nations economy, and technology advancements. It's one of those things that plays a a detrimental role to our nation, and one would hope that the Federal Government-wide shut down ends sooner than later so the FCC could get back to performing its original functions.

Sources:

1. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/01/us-usa-fiscal-idUSBRE98N11220131001

2. http://www.google.com/#q=what+is+the+government+shutdown
3. http://www.fcc.gov/shutdown-page.html
4. http://www.fcc.gov/Plan-for-Orderly-Shutdown-September-2013.pdf

The FCC's Bureau's and Offices

The FCC today is comprised of 7 bureaus and 11 offices. The bureaus under the FCC manage a variety of things from helping consumers, to enforcing regulations with the Communication Act of 1934 and to oversee issues concerning relationships with the media. Offices inside the FCC work to help the organization function in a way where it can fulfill the obligations the Communications Act of 1934 set out for it (1).

The Consumer and Governmental Affairs is one of seven bureaus of the FCC. It works to develop and install consumer polices for the disabled and tribal nations. To ensure that they continue to serve them effectively they form close relationships with local, state, and tribal governments (1).

The Enforcement Bureau protects consumers by promoting competition. Competition is what controls prices of technology. Competition also helps improve the quality and services of technology. This bureau is responsible for enforcing the Communication Act and rules and regulations of the FCC (1).

The International Bureau focuses on international telecommunications and satellite programs. In addition, they  manage satellite programs, licensing and regulatory functions (1).

The Media Bureau is responsible for overseeing everything that goes through the media. It manages issues with broad radio and television licensing. It also manages media services such as cable and satellite TV (1).

The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is crucial to public safety. Their mission is to assist the general public and all levels of public when things like natural disasters and terrorist attacks occur. By creating emergency responses they hope to strengthen public safety (1).

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau serves as administration when it comes to wireless telecommunications. They regulate programs, licensing and polices; when it coms to communications services (1).

The seventh and final bureau is one that has expanded over the past decade, the Wireline Competition. Their duty is to set guidelines for wireline telecommunications. They provide wireline companies with policy goals, objectives, programs, and plans to implement them all (1).

Those seven bureaus help regulate the FCC to keep it functional. However, in addition to those the FCC is made up of 11 offices to assist with legal policies, business and technological advance, and to maintain the diversity in the FCC workplace. The 11 offices in the FCC include the office of: Administrative Law Judges, Communication Business Opportunities, Engineering and Technology, the General Counsel, the Inspector General, Legislative Affairs, Managing Director, Media Relations, Secretary, Strategic Planning and Policy, and Workplace Diversity (1).

All of the bureaus and offices included under the FCC are what helps the organization operate in today's society and oversee communication.

Sources:
1. (http://www.fcc.gov/bureaus-offices)

President Franklin Delan Roosevelt Signs Communications Act

Controversy with the Communications Act of 1934

Controversy with Telecommunication Act Affecting Communications Bill:
Since the Communications Act of 1934 was passed the FCC regulated all lines of communication and made it affordable to the public. However, people in America understood that networks were influenced by the FCC. People then felt that the law in the Communications Act needed to be changed. They felt that the FCC was violating freedom of speech because they would filter obscene content. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed a bill called the Telecommunications Act to amend laws in that 1934 bill, because people felt with the new technology advances the 1934 bill was out of date. However, what they didn't foresee was that ownership rules would change and that would start monopolies.

In the bill, Communications Act of 1934, there were two types of communications that were to be regulated. One was called Title I services, which was the services for materials that were under light restrictions. Title II services were under tighter restrictions under a rule called "common carrier". The common carrier is simply defined as a person who renders communication service for hire to the public. In 2002, some argued that internet services needed to be regulated because they thought it interfered with Title II's common carrier regulations. However, that ruling was overruled because internet services has been interpreted as not falling under a telecommunication service. Those that oppose the ruling believe that Congress should pass a law to expand the FCC's authority so that internet services can be filtered.

Revisions to the Communications Bill, before 1996:
Before the Telecommunications Act of 1996 there were many other revisions to the Communications Act of 1934 before hand. In 1962 the Communications Satellite was passed to give FCC authority to regulate satellites. In 1992, it was the Cable Communications Act that called for a few revisions to the original bill from 1934. However, none of those bills had a bigger impact on the Communications Act until the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed. The 1996 ruling made it more difficult for the FCC to regulate broadcasting and as a result the FCC can not influence a station to serve the public interest. 

Criticism of the Communicates Bill:

The Communications Act of 1934 has also been criticized for having definitions in its bill to broad. Some have found that to be helpful because it was used as a framework for other bills that passed over the years that have made laws and amended the authority of the FCC. The FCC has also been criticized for making adjustments to fit the needs of larger broadcast interests.

How Revisions Have Effected the FCC's Duties:

Ultimately, reforms of the Communications Act of 1934 has derived the FCC from fulfilling its intended purpose. Mainly due to the Telecommunications Act the FCC wasn't able to regulate TV stations because of the difficulty of obtaining broadcast licenses. In the end, the other bills have made it more difficult for the FCC to regulate communication. As a result, the FCC has been marginalized by the industries they were established to regulate.

Communications Act of 1934

The Communications Act of 1934
The purpose of the Communications Act of 1934 was an act passed to regulate interstate and foriegn communications. Once the deal was made the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was formed. The FCC was an efficient communication service because it merged broadcast and wired communication under one agency. The agency was divided into three branches of communication: broadcast, telegraph, and telephone. The purpose of this act was to give citizens in the US access to communication with reasonable rates for its the services.

The FCC's Goals and Objectives:
The FCC monitors and regulates communication that the act had guaranteed to regulate. Today, the FCC is still around and regulates the communication around the US, this group is overseen by Congress. The FCC works as an independent U.S. government and by regulating the communication it also works as a business corporation to help bring profits into the US.

The FCC encourages competition with technologic devices because they want consumers to have the best instruments available, locally and internationally. Also, they look for the competition between other companies to overall help enhance the quality of the technology and its services. Promoting competition also comes with innovation and that's why the FCC is an important agency when it comes to technology and enhancing communication.

The FCC Today:
The FCC has many responsibilities and today the role of the FCC has expanded. The FCC is comprised of seven bureaus and 11 offices. Enforcement, consumer protection, media relations and  many others that handle situations related to communication and technology. All of the bureaus and offices under the FCC not only help manage communication but it also helps sustain and improve communication technology.

The Communication Act of 1934 was an important act because it established an agency devoted to improving and enhancing communication services. Communication as a service has helped the nation grow and has also helped with the economic development. Without the Communication Act of 1934 technology would not have been as advanced as it is today. Also, the cost of services would probably not be reasonable for the average consumer without an agency to help regulate communication.

Sources:
http://transition.fcc.gov/Reports/1934new.pdf
 http://www.fcc.gov/what-we-do
 http://www.fcc.gov/bureaus-offices