- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

New essay article: Over the Quantum Cliff
by Aram Sinnreich 25 Mar '26

25 Mar '26

Colleagues, I’m writing to share a new essay article in the online magazine Broadcast. While some news media have covered the “quantum cliff” (aka Q-Day) from a cybersecurity perspective, Jesse Gilbert and I have instead written about the broader social and cultural consequences of quantum decryption: what will it mean for us to live in a world where decades of our digital secrets are suddenly, and permanently, revealed to the world at large? This is a question we alluded to in our book The Secret Life of Data, but in this article, we take a much deeper dive. https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/quantum-cliff-aram-sinnreich-jesse-gilbe… I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Aram (apologies for cross-posting)

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75th E-seminar // Campbell Thomson — "Memeing the Great Reset: Circulating post-COVID conspiracies in the UK Freedom Movement" (30 Mar – 12 Apr 2026)
by John Postill 25 Mar '26

25 Mar '26

*From:* Tom McDonald <mcdonald(a)hku.hk> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 25, 2026 13:54 *To:* Iginio Gagliardone via Medianthro < medianthro-easaonline.org(a)lists.easaonline.org> *Subject:* [Medianthro] 75th E-seminar // Campbell Thomson — "Memeing the Great Reset: Circulating post-COVID conspiracies in the UK Freedom Movement" (30 Mar – 12 Apr 2026) Dear MediaNet subscribers We are pleased to announce that the *75th Media Anthropology Network E-seminar* will take place on this mailing list from *Monday, 30 March to Sunday, 12 April 2026*. Further details can be found here: https://easaonline.org/event/75-e-seminar-memeing-the-great-reset-circulati… We'll be discussing a working paper from *Dr Campbell Thomson <https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/campbell-thomson>* (King's College London), titled *"Memeing the Great Reset: Circulating post-COVID conspiracies in the UK Freedom Movement"*. The working paper is now available for download: https://easaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/E-seminar-Thomson-Memeing… On *Monday, 30 March*, I will open the seminar by introducing our appointed discussant(s) and inviting them to commence the discussion by sharing their comments on the paper with the list. Following this, I will open the floor to all list members for further discussion. We are excited to celebrate the 75th edition of the MediaNet E-seminar series with Campbell’s excellent paper, and we hope you will join the conversation! Please feel free to share this event with colleagues and students who might be interested, and encourage them to participate. See you on Monday! Tom McDonald Associate Professor Department of Sociology The University of Hong Kong mcdonald(a)hku.hk Tel: +852 3917 1105 http://sociology.hku.hk/mcdonald ------ *About the Network e-seminars* The Media Anthropology Network e-seminars <https://lists.easaonline.org/postorius/lists/medianthro-easaonline.org.list…> are email-based discussions centred on media anthropology-related papers (e.g., working papers, published materials) or events (e.g., follow-up seminars on workshops or panels). Discussions typically run over a two-week period, with discussion materials circulated in advance by the Network Convenors. Each e-seminar features a moderator and discussants to facilitate discussion; however, all list members <https://lists.easaonline.org/postorius/lists/medianthro-easaonline.org.list…> are welcome to participate. Many authors find the constructive feedback valuable in enhancing their manuscripts for publication. Subscribe to the EASA Network for Media Anthropology (MediaNet) mailing list <https://lists.easaonline.org/postorius/lists/medianthro-easaonline.org.list…> E-seminar seminar archive (featuring presented papers and discussion transcripts) <https://easaonline.org/networks/media-anthropology/events-by-medianet/archi…>

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Final reminder - PhD studentship (2026-), 'Artificial Inequality: AI and its Impact on the UK Creative Industries', University of Manchester
by Sam Hind 25 Mar '26

25 Mar '26

Apologies for x-posting *Deadline this Monday* Dear Air-L list members Dave O'Brien, myself, and Riza Batista-Navarro have a PhD studentship opportunity on 'Artifical Inequality: AI and its Impact on the UK Creative Industries' at the University of Manchester, UK. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions, sam.hind(a)manchester.ac.uk. About the Project Inequality in cultural and creative industries (CCIs) is a very well-established issue (e.g. Brook et al 2025). Poor working conditions, uncertain and precarious careers, discrimination and lack of diversity, alongside challenges to funding and business models are all key areas in recent research. These structural issues sit alongside work designed to understand the experiences of creative workers as they navigate these social, economic and cultural conditions. Artificial Intelligence (AI), widely defined, is another new challenge for CCIs. Debates over AI and CCIs, whether as a positive influence on creativity and productivity or questions over IP ownership, threats to sustainable careers, and other negative impacts, are increasingly prominent in the research literature (e.g. Lee 2024, Lee et al 2024). However, AI’s impact on the structural inequalities shaping CCIs is still yet to be settled. Whilst advocates contend that AI will open up new creative opportunities for those within and beyond CCIs, critics argue that AI will only further disrupt UK creative industries operating in a difficult national and global economic climate.. Alongside this, work examining workers’ experiences is also less well-established, despite the speed at which creative AI platforms and features (e.g. Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, Suno) have become part of the wider creative landscape since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. The potential for research on issues of AI, CCIs and inequality are especially urgent in the UK. The UK’s industrial strategy has highlighted creative industries as one of eight priority sectors. It has also stressed the positive, transformative, impact of AI on the sector. At the same time, inequalities are also an important part of policy for CCIs, suggesting a tension that is underdeveloped in policy thinking, as well as in the literature. Key features of this studentship * Receive a fully funded studentship covering tuition fees and an annual stipend at the UKRI rate (previously 2025/26 £20,780 per year) for 3.5 years. * Research Training and Support Grant (RTSG): £3,000 total over 3.5 years. * CreativeAI studentship methods training and cohort-building activities. Deadline for applications is March 30, 2026. For more details, and how to apply: https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/artificial-inequality-ai-and-its-impa… The project is part of the recently-launched CreativeAI studentships here at Manchester, hosted in the Centre for Digital Humanities, Cultures and Media: https://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/funding… Regards Sam - Sam Hind Lecturer in Digital Media and Culture University of Manchester, UK Centre for Digital Humanities, Cultures and Media

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Call for Participants: AI, Academic Labor, and Productivity
by Alexis de Coning 24 Mar '26

24 Mar '26

Hi AoIR folks, I'm expanding on prior research and recruiting more participants for the study described below. As always, I'm genuinely interested in hearing a range of views -- from pro-AI to anti-AI, good experiences and bad, and everything in between. Please see the call for participants below and contact me directly to participate or ask for further details. Best regards, Lexi _____________________________ This study explores how faculty in the United States use AI technologies to help manage their time and productivity – including but not limited to large language models, AI chatbots, agentic AI, and AI-integrated productivity tools and platforms. In particular, I want to hear about how you use (or may have tried but stopped using) AI technologies for scheduling and calendar management, literature reviews and secondary research, writing and editing, teaching and assessment, note-taking and transcription software, and goal-setting and motivation and goals tracking, as well as any other ways you use AI to support your academic work. I’m looking for scholars based in the United States from all walks of academic life – from early career researchers to full professors, from small liberal arts colleges to large R1 institutions, from tenure-track faculty to visiting scholars and post-doctoral fellows. You may consider yourself incredibly AI savvy, or still a novice of AI adoption; you may even be skeptical about AI’s promises or experienced minimal benefits from AI tools. All experiences and “experience levels” are encouraged to participate. The only requirement is that you have completed your PhD and work at a higher education institution in the United States in the fields of Humanities or Social Sciences. If you agree to be interviewed, you’ll be asked to participate in a semi-structured conversation with me for roughly 60 minutes, to be conducted and recorded via Zoom. Your participation is entirely voluntary; there is no compensation for participating, and no penalty for choosing not to participate or to withdraw from the study. You can withdraw your participation at any time and for any reason. The anticipated risks to participants are minimal; some participants may feel frustrated or overwhelmed by the use of AI in the academy. All data collected will remain confidential as required by the law and institutional policy. All the information and methods in this study have been approved by the West Virginia Wesleyan College Institutional Review Board. Names will not be attached to any data and recorded responses will be kept in a secure location. Following completion of this research and analysis of the data, all audio-visual recordings of the interviews will be deleted; only anonymized transcripts will be kept for research purposes. In the event of injury or illness as direct result of participation in this research study, no compensation, financial or otherwise will be available from the researcher or West Virginia Wesleyan College. If you If I have any questions about this study, you may contact Alexis de Coning at deconing.a(a)wvwc.edu, or contact the chairperson of the IRB, Dr. Meleesa Wohleber at wohleber.m(a)wvwc.edu. If you would like to participate in this study, please contact Alexis de Coning at deconing.a(a)wvwc.edu. -- Assistant Professor of Communication Legal Studies Minor Coordinator

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RECORDING - Preparing the DNS for the Post-Quantum Cryptography transition
by Joly MacFie 24 Mar '26

24 Mar '26

[Apologies for a brief drop in Benoit's video early on. Didn't have the recorder turned on properly! Reminder, ISOC LIVE recaps are now also *available on SubStack* <https://isoclive.substack.com/>] [image: ISOC LIVE] <https://isoc.live/20362> VIDEO <https://youtu.be/YYDYlOt-sZk> | AUDIO <https://archive.org/download/is3c-pqc2/is3c-pqc2.mp3> | RECAP <https://www.patreon.com/posts/153803695/> | ARCHIVE <https://archive.org/details/is3c-pqc2> | PERMALINK <https://isoc.live/20362> On 18 March 2026,, the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Internet Standards, Security and Safety Coalition <https://is3coalition.org/> (IS3C) hosted a webinar ‘Preparing the DNS for the Post-Quantum Cryptography transition <https://intgovforum.zoom.us/meeting/register/Ye16qPy7SqC21kx8PRh5Nw#/regist…>‘. This was the second in the IS3C Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) series, The first is available here <https://isoc.live/20268/>. SPEAKERS Benoît Ampeau – Head, Afnic Labs Caspar Schufiser – Research Engineer at SIDN Labs Maarten Botterman – IS3C / GNKS Consult BV HOST / MODERATOR Wout de Natris – van der Borght – IS3C coordinator -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +12185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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CfA: Eurocrim 2026 (Warsaw) Roundtable on Digital Methods
by Piotr Siuda 24 Mar '26

24 Mar '26

Dear Colleagues, We invite contributions to our roundtable on Digital Methods in Criminological Research at the upcoming Eurocrim 2026 Conference https://eurocrim2026.com/ The panel brings together scholars engaging with critical, empirical, and methodological approaches to studying crime, justice, and harm in digitally mediated environments. Our goal is to create a space for method-focused dialogue on how criminologists collect, analyse, and interpret digital data, ranging from social media content, platform based interactions and OSINT practices to digital ethnography, algorithmic tools, automated scraping, or hybrid fieldwork. We particularly welcome reflections on methodological challenges, ethics, data governance, platform constraints, and the reshaping of criminological knowledge production in the digital age. This is a roundtable, not a series of formal papers. Accepted contributors will offer short provocations or brief inputs (5–7 minutes) to spark collective discussion. The goal is to assemble a diverse set of methodological perspectives rather than full research presentations. Please send your abstract by email to v.nagy(a)vu.nl and piotr.siuda(a)gmail.com with the subject line: Digital Methods Roundtable Please include: A short abstract of max. 200 words. Your core methodological argument. Name, affiliation, and contact details. Deadline: 30 March 2026, 2:00pm. We look forward to your contributions and to a rich methodological conversation at Eurocrim. Warm wishes, Piotr Siuda & Veronika Nagy

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CfP Synthetic Social Media: Studying Platform-Embedded AI 22-25 September 2026, CRC Media of Cooperation, University of Siegen
by Pilipets, Elena 24 Mar '26

24 Mar '26

Dear colleagues, Join us in Siegen for the collaborative event "Synthetic Social Media: Studying Platform-Embedded AI". When & Where? 22-25 September 2026, CRC Media of Cooperation, University of Siegen About the Event Social media platforms are increasingly shaped by the integration of generative AI alongside long-standing analytical and predictive models. Today's algorithmic systems are moving from the background infrastructure to the forefront of digital social life – where autonomous AI agents operate in coexistence with (or independently of) human users. They intervene in the content feeds as conversational agents like xAI's Grok, reshape identity play through synthetic likenesses of OpenAI's Sora-2, and expand the social ecosystem itself through experimental projects like Butterflies AI and Moltbook. As these developments rapidly outpace existing research frameworks, the need for mixed critical methodologies to explore the nested integration of GenAI into platforms grows more urgent. The 2026 Autumn School edition of the CRC “Media of Cooperation” explores these developments by focusing on generative AI as an infrastructural, cultural, and regulated component of social media platforms across three intersecting dimensions: At the cultural level of everyday use, it refers to the routinized practices of prompting or interacting with platform-embedded generative systems through multimodal inputs. Infrastructurally, it signals a shift in agency, as platforms keep multiplying affordances that nudge us into co-producing synthetic outputs. Finally, it foregrounds research techniques for probing AI models in their entanglements with the platform governance and moderation regimes. Call for Contributions Please submit a proposal (max. 500 words) outlining how your work engages with the event’s main theme, inspired by, though not limited to, one of the following "how to" prompts: ● How to account for the ambiguities emerging from human-machine co-creation ● How to rethink walkthrough methods in light of platforms’ generative affordances ● How to study AI moderation as platform policy in action ● How to approach cultural biases conditioned by AI systems and prompt cultures ● How to explore platform agency and its steering ideologies ● How to integrate screenshots as a method for capturing synthetic situations ● How to repurpose AI personas as research personas ● How to develop non-extractive approaches to researching AI platforms Submission Deadline: 30. April 2026. Accepted proposals will be grouped into thematic sessions and discussed in a collaborative, dialogue-focused format. Presentations (max. 15 mins) should raise questions or provocations rather than present finished research. We encourage especially Early Career Researchers to apply. For full details, including the submission link, please visit our website: https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/en/autumn-school-synthetic-social-media… Event Highlights The event opens with a one-day conference and moves into hands-on workshops and project work. Accepted abstracts will be grouped into thematic sessions curated by the organising team. Presenters will be connected via email ahead of time to coordinate their contributions. The first day is about presentations and discussions. The next three days are dedicated to exploring and developing methods - hands-on! We invite you to join a team of interdisciplinary scholars and data designers in probing new methodological combinations. Each of our project teams will present a research question alongside a specific method to be collaboratively explored. The event is free of charge, though attendees are responsible for arranging and covering their travel and accommodation in Siegen. Questions? Feel free to get in touch: elena.pilipets(a)uni-siegen.de We look forward to your contributions! Elena

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4s open panel The normal vices and violences of data
by Jeremy hunsinger 23 Mar '26

23 Mar '26

Submit a paper to our open panel:) The Normal Vices and Violences of Data Jeremy Hunsinger Wilfrid Laurier University Florence Chee Loyola University Chicago https://www.4sonline.org/accepted_open_panels_toronto.php The normal vices and violences of data is a panel that attempts to confront what is accepted as normal and everyday about data, but should not be accepted as providing for better technoscientific futures. The panelists confront the normal vices and violences of data. Normal violence is a seemingly acceptable form of violence because of its everyday occurrence (Cerulo, 1998; Dutton, 2013; Hunsinger, 2020). Usually discussed as part of domestic relationships, normal violence is a form of abuse against the other. Generalized, in society, we can see subtle ‘normal violence’ occurring everyday, as physical altercations, mental anguish, pervasive anxieties, emotional violences, or otherwise (ibid). Similarly, normal vices are those that are seemingly acceptable elements of vices, be they minor anti-social behaviours, profiteering and greed, or similar things we accept as part of everyday life, but we should not. There are many violences and vices involved with data, the use and abuse of personal data/identities, the fraudulent representation of data, the use of data to generalize in manners not warranted, the objectification of people via data, the racialization of data, the undermining of democracy, and the undermining of science/technology. In this panel, we want to confront these issues directly with evidence of their existence, combined with a critique of those practices. We invite authors to expose issues in technoscience, to discuss them openly, and to share the normal violences and vices that we should not accept. We also want to discuss the ethics, or lack thereof, of participating in these everyday violences. References: Cerulo, K. A. (1998). Deciphering violence: The cognitive structure of right and wrong. Routledge. Dutton, D. G. (2006). Rethinking domestic violence. UBC Press. Hunsinger, J. (2020). On the Current Situation: Normal Violences, Pandemics, Emergencies, Necropolitics, Zombies, and Creepy Treehouses. Fastcapitalism. -- jeremy hunsinger Associate Professor, Communication Studies Wilfrid Laurier University Collaboratory for Digital Discourse and Culture Virginia Tech www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. -Pablo Picasso

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[Collaboration] Open Research Platform for Multi-Agent LLM Deliberation
by Vinicius Covas 23 Mar '26

23 Mar '26

Dear colleagues and researchers, I hope this finds you well. As the study of LLMs shifts from individual interaction to emergent social behaviors, there is a growing need for controlled environments to study digital deliberation at scale. I've developed Agora Synthetic (https://agorasynthetic.com/) — an open research platform that simulates public deliberation using multiple AI agents. It allows researchers to design controlled experiments where LLM-powered agents with distinct personas engage in structured discussion on topics you define. This is a non-commercial, academic-led initiative. My goal is to build a bridge between AI architecture and communication theory, specifically to explore: - Deliberative Democracy: How constraints (time, rounds) affect consensus quality. - Framing & Polarization: The impact of economic vs. public health framing on coalition formation. - Algorithmic Bias: Participation inequality in agents with gendered or marginalized personas. - Epistemic Resilience: Group self-correction mechanisms when exposed to misinformation. The platform provides metrics for academic analysis, including: - Gini coefficient (participation inequality). - Type-Token Ratio (lexical diversity). - Sentiment tracking & Network topology analysis. - Cohen’s d effect sizes for condition comparison. *Invitation to Collaborate:* I am looking for fellow researchers interested in co-authoring papers using this infrastructure. If you are working on LLM-mediated communication, digital sociology, or computational ethics, I’d love to see how Agora Synthetic can support your specific research questions. You can explore the platform and apply for research access here: https://agorasynthetic.com/ https://agorasynthetic.com/ Warm regards, Dr. Vinicius Covas Research Professor, Universidad Anáhuac México vinicius.covas(a)anahuac.mx

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RECORDING - FCC - 30th Anniversary of the 96 Act Webinar – What Did We Learn?
by Joly MacFie 23 Mar '26

23 Mar '26

[image: ISOC LIVE] <https://isoc.live/20416> VIDEO <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlg8We3ePxcPrVmvRR5xZ_4z4vp7y5KTM> | RECAP <https://www.patreon.com/posts/153683814/> | ARCHIVE <https://archive.org/details/fcc-1996act> | PERMALINK <https://isoc.live/20416> On March 17, 2026 the Federal Communications Commission <https://www.fcc.gov/> (FCC) hosted ‘30th Anniversary of the 96 Act Webinar – What Did We Learn? <https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2026/03/30th-anniversary-96-act-webi…>‘. Three panel conversations featured communications and technology policy experts that lived through the creation and implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996>. The Congressional passage of the Act, and the subsequent FCC implementation, was the last major effort by the federal government to construct a new regulatory framework for the technology, media, and telecommunications sector., serving to drive competition, innovation, and investment into faster, better, and cheaper technology, and to increased economic growth and expanded connectivity for consumers. At a moment when innovation is accelerating at an ever-increasing pace, the critical issues regulators currently face include artificial intelligence, media, competition, convergence, access, and cybersecurity, the purpose of these panels is to consider how the lessons from 30 years ago can be used to drive innovation and competition for the benefit of consumers today. 01 Opening Remarks – Brendan Carr Brendan Carr – Chair, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) VIDEO <https://youtu.be/SB-y3roRVzU> | AUDIO <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/01_Brendan_Carr.mp3> | RECAP EN <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/01_Brendan_Carr.EN.pdf> / ES <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/01_Brendan_Carr.ES.pdf> / FR <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/01_Brendan_Carr.FR.pdf> 02 Introduction – Anna M. Gomez Anna M. Gomez – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) VIDEO <https://youtu.be/FEhOSoUeYWM> | AUDIO <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/02_Anna_M_Gomez.mp3> | RECAP EN <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/02_Anna_M_Gomez.EN.pdf> / ES <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/02_Anna_M_Gomez.ES.pdf> / FR <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/02_Anna_M_Gomez.FR.pdf> 03 Panel 1: The Legislative Process That Led to the Act Katie King – Former Special Counsel, Federal Communications Commission Gina Keeney – Founder, Keeney Consulting John Windhausen Jr. – President, Telepoly Moderator: John T. Nakahata – Partner, Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP VIDEO <https://youtu.be/W8lty92AbFk> | AUDIO <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/03_The_Legislative_Process.mp3> | RECAP EN <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/03_The_Legislative_Process.EN.pdf> / ES <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/03_The_Legislative_Process.ES.pdf> / FR <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/03_The_Legislative_Process.FR.pdf> 04 Panel 2: FCC Implementation of the Act ichard Metzger – Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Richard Welch – Senior Counsel, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP Greg Rosston – Director, Stanford Public Policy Program Christopher J. Wright – Partner, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP Moderator: Ruth Milkman – Founding Partner, Quadra Partners LLC VIDEO <https://youtu.be/dkfv44VJaBU> | AUDIO <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/04_FCC_Implementation.mp3> | RECAP EN <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/04_FCC_Implementation.EN.pdf> / ES <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/04_FCC_Implementation.ES.pdf> / FR <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/04_FCC_Implementation.FR.pdf> 05 Panel 3: Today’s Challenges Robert Pepper – Senior Fellow, Global Digital Inclusion Partnership Howard Shelanski – Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center Robert M. McDowell – Partner, Cooley LLP Tom Wheeler – Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution Moderatot: Anna M. Gomez – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission VIDEO <https://youtu.be/SXDdRjvfaS4> | AUDIO <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/05_Todays_Challenges.mp3> | RECAP EN <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/05_Todays_Challenges.EN.pdf> / ES <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/05_Todays_Challenges.ES.pdf> / FR <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/05_Todays_Challenges.FR.pdf> 06 Closing Remarks – Anna M. Gomez Anna M. Gomez – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) VIDEO <https://youtu.be/X0IJ7wUx0-s> | AUDIO <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/06_Closing_Remarks.mp3> | RECAP EN <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/06_Closing_Remarks.EN.pdf> / ES <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/06_Closing_Remarks.ES.pdf> / FR <https://archive.org/download/fcc-1996act/06_Closing_Remarks.FR.pdf> -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +12185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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