BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2017
Today's Event -- Will the Internet Fragment?, New America -- https://www.benton.org/node/260235
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
Top-Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election
Government contractor charged with leaking classified info to media
Rep Nunes-led House Intelligence Committee asked for ‘unmaskings’ of Americans
Associated Press Fact Check: President Trump Can't Be Trusted [links to Benton summary]
White House: Trump will not try to stop James Comey testimony by asserting executive privilege [links to Washington Post]
Free Press Demands the Trump FCC Explain Its Recent First Amendment Violations - press release
Trump's War on the First Amendment Finds a Home at the FCC [links to Free Press]
Conway hits media's 'obsession' with covering President Trump's tweets, not actions [links to Benton summary]
Donald Trump’s Advisers: Don’t Take His Tweets So Seriously [links to Huffington Post]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Broadband Myth Series, Part 1: What Financial Data Shows About the Impact of Title II on ISP Investment - ITIF editorial
FCC's Open Internet Docket Explodes [links to Benton summary]
Public policy can improve older adults’ access to technology - Brookings
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Supreme Court to decide if a warrant is needed to track a suspect through cellphone records
Week ahead: New GOP push on internet privacy [links to Benton summary]
TELECOM
No, Your Phone Didn’t Ring. So Why Voice Mail From a Telemarketer?
FCC Announces the Next Meeting of the North American Numbering Council for June 29 [links to Federal Communications Commission]
TELEVISION/RADIO
Public broadcasting’s immortality defies reason - George Will
FCC Media Bureau Announces Comment and Reply Comment Deadlines for Main Studio Rule NPRM [links to Federal Communications Commission]
FCC Schedules Time to Drill Down on ATSC 3.0 [links to Multichannel News]
NAB Seeks FCC Relief for LPTVs, Translators [links to TVNewsCheck]
JOURNALISM
RTDNA Research: Local news by the numbers - research [links to Benton summary]
Fake news might be the next issue for activist tech-company investors [links to Nieman Lab]
ADVERTISING
Google is the internet's largest ad company. So why is it building an ad blocker? [links to Vox]
Advertisers pressured to take sides as nation’s political divide deepens [links to Washington Post]
CONTENT
Facebook wants to be 'hostile' to terrorists [links to CNN]
LABOR
With Verizon-CWA Copper Settlement, Union Forces Verizon’s Landline Hand [links to Benton summary]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FirstNet, AT&T Set for State Plan `Kick-off’ Meeting with State Single Points of Contact [links to FirstNet]
POLICYMAKERS
FCC CIO to Leave for First-of-its-Kind Role in Government
STORIES FROM ABROAD
British Prime Minister Theresa May calls for internet regulation after violent attack [links to Benton summary]
Raids in India Target Founders of News Outlet Critical of Government [links to New York Times]
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
TOP-SECRET NSA REPORT DETAILS RUSSIAN HACKING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Sam Biddle, Ryan Grim]
Apparently, Russian Military Intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one US voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing e-mails to more than 100 local election officials just days before November 2016’s presidential election. The top-secret National Security Agency document, which was provided anonymously to The Intercept and independently authenticated, analyzes intelligence very recently acquired by the agency about a months-long Russian intelligence cyber effort against elements of the US election and voting infrastructure. The report, dated May 5, 2017, is the most detailed US government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to light. While the document provides a rare window into the NSA’s understanding of the mechanics of Russian hacking, it does not show the underlying “raw” intelligence on which the analysis is based. A US intelligence officer who declined to be identified cautioned against drawing too big a conclusion from the document because a single analysis is not necessarily definitive. The report indicates that Russian hacking may have penetrated further into US voting systems than was previously understood.
benton.org/headlines/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-2016-election | New York Times | ars technica
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
GVT CONTRACTOR CHARGED WITH LEAKING CLASSIFIED INFO TO MEDIA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Olivia Beavers]
The Department of Justice charged 25-year-old government contractor Reality Leigh Winner with sharing top secret material with a media outlet, prosecutors announced in a press release June 5. Court documents filed by the government don't specify which media outlet received the materials allegedly leaked by Winner, but NBC News reported that the material went to the Intercept online news outlet. The Intercept published a top secret NSA report June 5 that alleged Russian military intelligence launched a 2016 cyberattack on a voting software company. Details on the report published by The Intercept suggest that it was created on May 5, 2017 — the same day prosecutors say the materials Winner is charged with sharing were created. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on whether Winner is accused of sharing the report published by the Intercept. In June, Winner allegedly “printed and improperly removed classified intelligence reporting, which contained classified national defense information” before mailing the materials to an unnamed online news outlet a few days later, according to prosecutors.
benton.org/headlines/government-contractor-charged-leaking-classified-info-media | Hill, The | DOJ Press Release
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
UNMASKINGS OF AMERICANS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima]
The Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee asked US spy agencies late in 2016 to reveal the names of US individuals or organizations contained in classified intelligence on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, engaging in the same practice that President Donald Trump has accused the Obama Administration of abusing, current and former officials said. The chairman of the committee, Rep Devin Nunes (R-CA), has since cast the practice of “unmasking” of US individuals and organizations mentioned in classified reports as an abuse of surveillance powers by the outgoing Obama Administration. President Trump has argued that investigators should focus their attention on former officials leaking names from intelligence reports, rather than whether the Kremlin coordinated its activities with the Trump campaign, an allegation he has denied. “The big story is the ‘unmasking and surveillance’ of people that took place during the Obama administration,” Trump tweeted June 1.
benton.org/headlines/rep-nunes-led-house-intelligence-committee-asked-unmaskings-americans | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
FREE PRESS DEMANDS FCC EXPLAIN RECENT FIRST AMENDMENT VIOLATIONS
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Press release]
Free Press and Free Press Action Fund sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission’s general counsel calling on the agency to address its crackdowns against First Amendment freedoms during recent FCC meetings. “We write to express grave concerns about recent actions that call into serious question the Federal Communications Commission’s commitment to fostering free expression,” reads the letter authored by Free Press and Free Press Action Fund Deputy Director and Senior Counsel Jessica J. González and Policy Director Matt Wood. “In particular, the actions of FCC security and other FCC staff have chilled free speech and public participation in FCC decision-making processes that are supposed to be open to the public, and they have violated the due-process rights of Free Press and Free Press Action Fund staff and members.” The letter details a series of incidents in which the federal agency and members of its security staff have silenced dissenting voices, manhandled a reporter and barred members of the public from attending the agency’s monthly open meeting without due process. During one incident, on the morning of March 23, 2017, two Free Press Action Fund members, Joe DeGeorge and David Combs, attempted to attend the FCC’s open meeting wearing plain white T-shirts that read “Protect Net Neutrality” in black letters. FCC security personnel informed the two that they would not be allowed to enter the public meeting room unless they removed the T-shirts or flipped them inside out to conceal their message.
benton.org/headlines/free-press-demands-trump-fcc-explain-its-recent-first-amendment-violations | Free Press | read the letter | The Hill
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
INTERNET/BROADBAND
BROADBAND MYTH SERIES PART 1
[SOURCE: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, AUTHOR: Doug Brake]
[Commentary] This post kicks of a series of blogs examining some of the more pernicious myths and misunderstandings in telecommunications policy. With a new fire lit under the network neutrality warriors, misinformation runs rampant and spreads quickly. Let’s turn to the first myth: that financial data shows that Title II isn’t hurting Internet service providers’ investment in their networks. Financial filings shows broadband investment went down roughly 2-3 percent after the Open Internet Order, consistent with industry’s own findings. It’s especially important that we see continued investment in the infrastructure that supports “best-efforts” open Internet. And there is good reason to think Title II would affect this. Not only did the Open Internet Order take potential business models off the table, and throw others into uncertainty under the Internet Conduct Standard, it represents the first step down the slippery slope to more onerous utility regulations, such as network unbundling requirements or price regulation.
benton.org/headlines/broadband-myth-series-part-1-what-financial-data-shows-about-impact-title-ii-isp | Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
PUBLIC POLICY CAN IMPROVE OLDER ADULTS' ACCESS TO TECH
[SOURCE: Brookings, AUTHOR: Nicol Turner-Lee]
Public policies are critical in narrowing the digital divide for older adults and ensuring more accessible broadband access. As the current Federal Communications Commission attempts to change the Lifeline program, policy makers should be reminded that older adults constitute a large number of the program’s beneficiaries, requiring access to essential communications with 911 and other emergency service providers, healthcare practitioners, family and friends and other caregivers. Policies and programs addressing privacy and security also are important for this cohort. Broadband access must be viewed as one of many fundamental civil rights. Guaranteeing that all older adults have unfettered internet access will maintain the vibrancy of these alternatives and others, while ensuring that they aren’t further disadvantaged in the technology revolution.
benton.org/headlines/public-policy-can-improve-older-adults-access-technology-0 | Brookings
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
SECURITY/PRIVACY
SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE ON WARRANTLESS USE OF CELLPHONE DATA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Lydia Wheeler]
The Supreme Court next term will decide whether law enforcement authorities need a warrant to track a suspect through his cellphone records, justices announced June 5. The case seeks to resolve a digital-age question that has divided lower courts relying on past Supreme Court precedents about privacy. “Only this court can provide the guidance they seek about whether and how a doctrine developed long before the digital age applies to the voluminous and sensitive digital records at issue here,” wrote American Civil Liberties Union lawyers representing Timothy Carpenter. Investigating a string of armed robberies in the Midwest in 2010 and 2011, a prosecutor sought access to more than five months of historical cellphone location records for Carpenter, his lawyers said. Law enforcement officials did not seek warrants based on probable cause, but asked for the records under the Stored Communications Act.
benton.org/headlines/supreme-court-decide-if-warrant-needed-track-suspect-through-cellphone-records | Hill, The | The Hill
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TELECOM
WHY THAT VOICEMAIL FROM A TELEMARKETER?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Tara Siegel Bernard]
It is called ringless voice mail, the latest attempt by telemarketers and debt collectors to reach the masses. The calls are quietly deposited through a back door, directly into a voice mail box — to the surprise and (presumably) irritation of the recipient, who cannot do anything to block them. Regulators are considering whether to ban these messages. They have been hearing from ringless voice mail providers and pro-business groups, which argue that these messages should not qualify as calls and, therefore, should be exempt from consumer protection laws that ban similar types of telephone marketing. But consumer advocates, technology experts, people who have been inundated with these calls and the lawyers representing them say such an exemption would open the floodgates. Consumers’ voice mail boxes would be clogged with automated messages, they say, making it challenging to unearth important calls, whether they are from an elderly mother’s nursing home or a child’s school.
benton.org/headlines/no-your-phone-didnt-ring-so-why-voice-mail-telemarketer | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
TELEVISION/RADIO
PUBLIC BROADCASTING'S IMMORTALITY DEFIES REASON
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: George Will]
[Commentary] As changing technologies and preferences make government-funded broadcasting increasingly preposterous, such broadcasting actually becomes useful by illustrating two dismal facts. One is the immortality of entitlements that especially benefit those among society’s articulate upper reaches who feel entitled. The other fact is how impervious government programs are to evidence incompatible with their premises.
benton.org/headlines/public-broadcastings-immortality-defies-reason | Washington Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
POLICYMAKERS
FCC CIO TO LEAVE
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Frank Konkel]
David Bray, who has been the Federal Communication Commission’s chief information officer since August 2013, will leave the agency to become the chief ventures officer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The move—expected to be announced June 5—will take effect in late July, with Bray moving to a newly created and first-of-its-kind government position to advise the agency on the acquisition of emerging technologies, improving business processes and further developing new public-private partnerships. In his new role, Bray will also be charged with “adoption of machine learning and artificial intelligence, as well as changes in NGA's mission processes, workforce and acquisition models,” he said. Bray said that while his position may have no precedent in government, CVOs in the private sector “operate as a combination of internal and external venture capitalists.” He said he will have budget dollars to use, and anticipates listening to pitches, particularly those at the intersection of mapping, modeling and national security.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-cio-leave-first-its-kind-role-government-0 | nextgov
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top