This hearing contains testimony presented at a hearing conducted to investigate the legality of the President's early termination of the appointments of three members of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS). On September 21, 1981, three NCLIS commissioners, Clara Jones, Frances Naftalin, and Joan Gross, received…

An examination of the ways in which United States postal policies affected the development of the magazine industry before Congress passed the second-class mail category in 1863 reveals how a medium is shaped at least in part by the technology, policy, and politics of its delivery systems. In the nineteenth century, magazines depended on the mails…

On December 22, 1983, the Federal Communications Commission formally ended its consideration of rule making for children's television programing. Opponents of government regulation view the FCC's decision as a victory for the First Amendment freedoms of speech and the press; proponents of mandatory children's programing guidelines feel that the…

Electronic media have undergone substantial growth and change in the past two decades, and the structure of the programming industry has also changed, with the competition for programming becoming more intense. At the same time, government has moved toward deregulation in this area, with the result being increasing concentration,…

In this paper, the tools of legal and economic analysis are used to analyze the division of decision making authority between state and federal regulators of telecommunications policy. First, the principles of welfare economics are applied to the problem of defining appropriate jurisdictional boundaries. The results of this analysis are normative…

This paper situates the institution of copyright in the historical context of the rise of capitalism. The purpose is to provide a critical analysis of the philosophy of copyright and of the received history of copyright. A class analysis of copyright reveals the essential nature of copyright as the basis for the private ownership of intellectual…

This document provides witness testimony and prepared statements from five sessions of the Congressional hearing called to consider the question of pornographic material and its effects on women and children. Witnesses include several victims of sexual abuse, medical personnel, legal and law enforcement personnel, magazine representatives, and…

Exposure to asbestos in the air poses serious health threats, particularly to children. The use of asbestos in schools after World War II may have exposed millions of persons before regulations controlling asbestos use began appearing in the 1970s. Federal efforts to reduce exposure to asbestos have included passage of the Asbestos School Hazard…

A preliminary review of early responses to a questionnaire sent to secondary school principals across the United States revealed that most administrators felt more rigorous due process procedures should be followed in discipline cases than those required by federal regulations and school policies. The principals also tended to believe that…

The Indian Education Act is the only federal program that specifies parent committees rather than parent advisory committees, vesting specific responsibilities and right to consultation, review, and approval upon the parent committees. Thus it is imperative that parent committee members understand these rights and responsibilities and become…

This evaluation of information security programs in the executive agencies of the U.S. federal government was requested by the Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights, a part of the Congressional Committee on Government Operations. The report focuses on automated systems for personal, proprietary, and other sensitive…

During the first two decades of radio broadcasting in the United States, commercial broadcasters persuaded federal regulators, much of the public, and many educators that there was little need for independent noncommercial stations. Educational programming could be entrusted to "cooperation" between commercial hosts and guest educators.…

The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare outlines new government antismoking policies and programs, with emphasis on education and information dissemination, regulatory action, financial and other incentives, and research efforts. (MJB)

In debating the merits of the deregulation of broadcasting, policy makers should be cognizant of the conditions that led originally to that regulation. An examination of (1) the letters and speeches of Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, the first regulator of broadcasting; (2) the congressional debate over the regulatory issues of monopoly,…

In this statement, the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division under the Reagan Administration proposes a method of voluntary school desegregation as an alternative to court litigation and mandatory busing. The method represents a response to the failure of previous desegregation attempts to elicit public support and provide equal…