IN BRIEF
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/1/2001
State: no 'no fly zone'
The U.S. State Dept. last week denied a UK newspaper report that Secretary of State Colin Powell asked his children, including FCC Chairman Michael Powell, to avoid air travel. "The Secretary has given no such advice to his family or any others," said a State Department spokesman, referring to a report in the London Daily Mirror. "He believes that the airways are safe and has encouraged family members to fly as appropriate to their travel plans."
Nevertheless, Powell's daughter Linda pulled out of Jitney at the National Theatre in London because of concerns over security, the BBC reported, and decided to stay in the U.S.
NCTA OK with tapping
Cable subscribers would be subject to the same wiretapping rules that govern phone customers under the Justice Department's proposed antiterrorism legislation.
That means the government could obtain records of cable subscribers' phone and high-speed data activities without their knowledge.
According to the bill, cable operators wouldn't be allowed to inform their subscribers that the government had accessed their information for 90 days.
The cable industry already has signed off on the plan according to an NCTA spokesman. The Electronics Communications Protection Act of 1986 put rules in place that gave the government access to phone-customer records, but the 1984 Cable Act required that when the government wants a cable-customer's video records, the customer must be informed so he or she can challenge the request in court.
