Tuesday, October 23, 2018
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Operatives behind Russian-linked bots used tools from US startups, including IFTTT Inc., to supercharge social-media misinformation campaigns and meddle in elections. Data disclosed by Twitter showed that hundreds of accounts affiliated with the Russia-based Internet Research Agency used services offered by IFTTT, RoundTeam Inc. and Dlvr.it Inc. to automate and disperse their divisive messages more widely. San Francisco-based IFTTT lets people connect different apps and automatically post content on multiple services. The company is backed by investors including Salesforce Ventures, IBM Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
A new Morning Consult/Politico survey found 59 percent of self-identified Democratic voters considered support for network neutrality to be a somewhat or very important factor when deciding which candidate to support during the midterm elections — a figure that was unchanged from polling conducted in May. Among all voters in the latest survey, 50 percent said the issue would be an important consideration when choosing a candidate. But most Democratic candidates aren’t highlighting the issue in their campaigns as they choose to prioritize other, more immediate concerns for voters, Democratic strategists say. “Democrats are simply meeting voters where they are,” said Jeb Fain, communications director for the pro-Democrat House Majority PAC. “It’s not that net neutrality isn’t an important issue – it absolutely is, and it has a place in the conversation. That said, health care is the overriding top concern of voters in district after district.”
Verizon Wireless service is back up and running "essentially everywhere" throughout the area hit by Hurricane Michael, the company said. "Verizon engineers and fiber crews have been working around the clock after unprecedented damage to our fiber infrastructure caused by the most intense storm in history to make landfall in the Panhandle," Verizon's announcement said. "Services for our customers and first responders are back up and running today, providing wireless coverage essentially everywhere it was before Hurricane Michael hit." Verizon had faced repeated criticism from Gov Rick Scott (R-FL), who said Verizon lagged behind AT&T and other carriers in restoring service after the Category 4 hurricane made landfall on October 10. Gov Scott the week of Oct 15 suggested that Verizon misled the public about its post-hurricane recovery, saying that Verizon's claim of covering "98 percent of Florida" was only accurate because it included customers "hundreds of miles away from impacted areas."
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), a leading tech lobbying group in Washington (DC), introduced a plan for regulations to protect user privacy online, becoming the latest player to try to shape new legislation that the industry sees as increasingly likely. The framework from ITI, whose members include Google and Facebook, is designed to guide policymakers in the US and around the world as they weigh concerns about data privacy online, said ITI president Dean Garfield. It suggests that consumers should have to opt in to the use of their sensitive data, which it defines as “personal data consisting of ethnic origin, political affiliation, religious or philosophical belief, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, health data, sexual orientation, certain data of known minors, and precise geolocation data," except in cases where "such use is necessary based on the context or otherwise permitted under applicable law." The restriction wouldn’t apply to data that used an artificial identifier and was protected or that was fully anonymous. Garfield said he hopes that would push the industry to make such anonymization a standard practice.
Government & Communications
Chairman Pai Response Regarding Alleged DDOS Attacks on FCC Comment Filing System
On Dec 11, 2017, Reps Jerry McNerney (D-CA) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai expressing disappointment at the Chairman's failure to provide documentation relating to the May 7, 2017 alleged distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). They cited requests for documents at two separate FCC oversight hearings and said, "Given your high regard for transparency, we would expect that you would have disclosed to us by now the requested documents or an explanation of technical or legal prohibitions for your refusal to do so."
On Oct 10, 2018, Chairman Pai responded by saying, "As I indicated when you made your initial request, I could not commit to a document production absent a consultation with our legal staff...I have since been advised by our Office of General Counsel that many of the materials you are requesting are non-public and confidential, because they contain personally identifiable information or information about the FCC's information security practices...Indeed, last month, the US District Court for the District of Columbia in the Prechtel decision recognized that these documents contained sensitive information....As a result, before the Commission could consider sharing these documents, I would need an official letter from the full Committee clearly describing the scope of the material that is being requested as well as the methods that would be used to protect the confidentiality of this information."
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org) and Robbie McBeath (rmcbeath AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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