BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2017
Today's Event -- The Future of Speech Online, Center for Democracy & Technology, Newseum Institute, and the Charles Koch Institute -- https://www.benton.org/node/264290
INTERNET/BROADBAND/TELECOM
Senators blast Lifeline in Hearing
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Statement on Future of the Lifeline Program - press release
Rural Broadband Shouldn't Come at the Expense of Being Affordable and Effective - New America analysis
How The FCC is Using Legal Gymnastics to Excuse Itself From Getting Americans Internet Access - PK [links to Benton summary]
What is the Open Internet Rule? - Tom Wheeler [links to Benton summary]
In Response to Criticisms of Phoenix Center Research on Net Neutrality - Phoenix Center editorial [links to Benton summary]
Broadband Analysis: Scrappy Wireless ISPs Get the Job Done - Craig Settles op-ed [links to Benton summary]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Tapping Technology to Enhance Civic Engagement
President Trump: Call with Mexican president delayed over bad cell service [links to Hill, The]
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
TV viewers keep asking the FCC to punish CNN for Trump coverage even though it can't [links to Benton summary]
Sean Spicer basically admitted that he was willing to lie for President Trump [links to Washington Post]
Op-ed: The Jemele Hill controversy portends a world stripped of our culture of free expression [links to Los Angeles Times]
ELECTIONS
FEC seeks comment after Facebook cites Russian ads [links to Reuters]
FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub: Our elections are facing more threats online. Our laws must catch up. [links to Washington Post]
Facebook Is Still Hiding Crucial Russia Intel From the Public [links to Mother Jones]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
The FTC is investigating the Equifax breach. Here’s why that’s a big deal. [links to Washington Post]
What We Know and Don’t Know About the Equifax Hack [links to New York Times]
Some Equifax Customers Who Sought Safety Got Burned in the Data Breach [links to Wall Street Journal]
U.S. Navy Investigating If Destroyer Crash Was Caused by Cyberattack [links to Foreign Policy]
AT&T, Comcast, Charter, and Verizon claim California privacy law would weaken online security and increase pop-ups [links to Ars Technica]
Why Google and Verizon are suddenly allies on this California privacy bill [links to Washington Post]
The War on Terror isn’t a war that can be won militarily. It’s a war of ideas, which, in the long run, proves far more difficult to win [links to New America]
Analysts Are Quitting the State Department’s Anti-Propaganda Team [links to Defense One]
David Lazarus: Verizon gives away cool freebies, as long as you give away your privacy [links to Los Angeles Times]
ACCESSIBILITY
The Internet Is The Next Frontier In Making The World Accessible To All
CONTENT
Court reveals another overseas-data fight between Google and federal government [links to Benton summary]
ADVERTISING
Facebook Enabled Advertisers to Reach ‘Jew Haters'
Advertisers are furious with Apple for new tracking restrictions in Safari 11 [links to Benton summary]
Here’s how much social media stars get paid to post ads [links to Vox]
Mobile is driving most ad spending growth worldwide [links to Vox]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
What kind of spectrum do carriers want for 5G? 'All of it' [links to Benton summary]
LABOR
This Silicon Valley start-up wants to replace lawyers with robots [links to Washington Post]
DIVERSITY
Google 'segregates' women into lower-paying jobs, stifling careers, lawsuit says [links to Guardian, The]
KIDS AND MEDIA
Millennials Use Tracking Apps to Turn Tables on Mom and Dad [links to Wall Street Journal]
TRANSPORTATION
Senators unveil bill to boost tech-savvy transportation projects [links to Hill, The]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Hurricane Irma Communications Status Report for Sept. 14 [links to Federal Communications Commission]
FirstNet Board Approves FY18 Budget for Continued Progress on Network Implementation, Innovation, Public Safety Advocacy [links to First Responder Network Authority]
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
GAO Report: FCC Updated Its Enforcement Program, but Improved Transparency Is Needed - press release
POLICYMAKERS
FCC’s New Diversity Chair Lobbied Against Network Neutrality and Services for Minority Communities
Chairman Pai Names Carowitz Special Counsel - press release [links to Benton summary]
COMPANY NEWS
Verizon Looks to Cut $10 Billion in Costs by 2021 [links to Wall Street Journal]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Australia’s Media Sector Is Poised for a Wave of Mergers [links to Wall Street Journal]
INTERNET/BROADBAND/TELECOM
SENATORS BLAST LIFELINE IN HEARING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: ]
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee held a hearing Sept 14 titled, "FCC’s Lifeline Program: A Case Study of Government Waste and Mismanagement". Committee members criticized the subsidy program for phone and Internet access that was the subject of a recent watchdog report detailing cases of fraud and abuse. Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) said at a hearing that there “probably” needs to be a complete overhaul of the Lifeline program. “We need to completely rethink how we distribute that subsidy,” Chairman Johnson said. Sen Claire McCaskill (D-MO) called on the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on the companies that she says are defrauding the program. “Why are we providing these companies with this massive opportunity for fraud?” Sen McCaskill said. Both Sens McCaskill and Johnson suggested diverting funds from Lifeline towards programs focused on expanding rural internet access.
benton.org/headlines/senators-blast-lifeline-hearing | Hill, The | Broadcasting&Cable | Chairman Johnson Opening Statemenet | GAO Report | Pai Testimony | USAC’s Vickie Robinson
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LIFELINE STATEMENT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn]
Once again we will read headlines trumpeting faults in the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program that do not match the realities of the day. Despite significant reforms made under the previous administration and no new evidence of waste, fraud, or abuse, the Lifeline program continues to be under attack while our nation’s most vulnerable remain on the wrong side of the digital and opportunities divide. I am especially disappointed by the current FCC majority and those who repeatedly reject real reform efforts. This administration refuses to allow new broadband providers into the Lifeline program, which will deepen and cement the digital divide while omitting the fact that the Lifeline program has one of the lowest improper payment rates of all government subsidy programs. Continuing to vilify our nation’s only means-tested universal service program and remaining on the sidelines while communities and their residents do without connectivity, is a dereliction of the oath we were sworn to uphold. I, for one, remain committed to working with those who wish to improve the only FCC program that directly tackles the challenge of affordability in communications. Going forward, it is my sincere hope that those who are empowered to help those in need, will offer solutions, not attacks, so that we may enable all of our citizens to participate in a 21st century digital economy.
benton.org/headlines/commissioner-mignon-clyburn-statement-future-lifeline-program | Federal Communications Commission
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RURAL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: New America, AUTHOR: Tonya Riley]
The Federal Communications Commission’s recent inquiry into reducing the minimum speeds for broadband—something that sparked criticism among open internet advocacy groups—is the latest example of how FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has failed to champion policies that would enable rural broadband to succeed once it’s built. The most recent indication that the rural broadband promised under Pai’s chairmanship might not be the digital divide fix the FCC thinks is the agency’s approach to its annual evaluation of broadband standards, which is mandated by Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the subsequent Broadband Data Improvement Act of 2008. According to the notice adopted on Aug. 8, the FCC will “seek comment on whether a mobile speed benchmark of 10Mbps/1Mbps is appropriate for mobile broadband”—and, more to the point, if mobile broadband is good enough to replace fixed broadband. While seemingly innocuous, this is a marked pivot from the standards adopted under former Chairman Tom Wheeler, which established 25Mbps/3Mbps as the minimum. Given Pai’s initial opposition to those standards as a commissioner (ones that were in line with telecommunications lobbyists) and the short period for comment of the current inquiry, the new move seems like a clear move against innovation. More importantly, the new inquiry’s focus on lowering broadband speeds at a time when the FCC has demonstrated a commitment to rural broadband seems like an easy out in defining what progress for the latter would look like. In other words, the move would shrink the onus on internet providers to provide customers with the best possible service—and rural communities will have the most to lose before they get a chance to gain.
benton.org/headlines/rural-broadband-shouldnt-come-expense-being-affordable-and-effective | New America
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
TAPPING TECH TO ENHANCE CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Deb Socia]
[Commentary] City leaders often struggle to engage citizens in the civic arena. How can we encourage busy people with limited time to become active participants in the public process? How can municipalities hear from a wider range of constituents, particularly those who have not traditionally engaged? And how can technology be used to enhance and improve civic engagement? Next Century Cities launched the Charles Benton Next Generation Engagement Award program to investigate this dilemma, and to identify best practices for tech-powered civic engagement. We began our research by investigating civic engagement projects that were already underway. We found that while there were some interesting city-led projects, there was very little guidance about how to build a successful one.
[Deb Socia is the Executive Director of Next Century Cities]
benton.org/headlines/tapping-technology-enhance-civic-engagement | Benton Foundation
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ACCESSIBILITY
INTERNET ACCESSIBILITY
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Eillie Anzilotti]
Passed 27 years ago, the Americans with Disabilities Act mandates equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities. Title III of the ADA specifically mandates that all public and private institutions and spaces render themselves accessible to those with sensory, cognitive, and physical limitations–think of Braille on store signs, sound-enabled walk signals, on-ramps carved into sidewalks. But over the past year and a half, a string of lawsuits filed on behalf of people with disabilities against companies indicates that one crucial space has been bypassed in effectively interpreting the purpose of the ADA: the internet. It makes sense that the ADA’s mandates around internet accessibility would be fuzzy. In 1990, when the law was passed, the web was a fringe pastime. Why concern yourself with e-commerce accessibility when Americans were still doing their shopping in brick-and-mortar stores? Now, however, 79% of people in the U.S. shop online; in that and so many other ways, including access to financial services, the internet has effectively transitioned from a privilege to a necessity. And Mark Lacek, a marketing CEO who was tipped off to the string of web-accessibility related lawsuits by his business attorney, saw an opportunity to help companies build ADA compliance into their online operations.
benton.org/headlines/internet-next-frontier-making-world-accessible-all | Fast Company
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ADVERTISING
FACEBOOK ENABLED ADVERTISERS TO REACH 'JEW HATERS'
[SOURCE: ProPublica, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin, Madeleine Varner, Ariana Tobin]
Until the week of Sept 11, Facebook enabled advertisers to direct their pitches to the news feeds of almost 2,300 people who expressed interest in the topics of “Jew hater,” “How to burn jews,” or, “History of ‘why jews ruin the world.’” To test if these ad categories were real, ProPublica paid $30 to target those groups with three “promoted posts” — in which a ProPublica article or post was displayed in their news feeds. Facebook approved all three ads within 15 minutes. After ProPublica contacted Facebook, it removed the anti-Semitic categories — which were created by an algorithm rather than by people — and said it would explore ways to fix the problem, such as limiting the number of categories available or scrutinizing them before they are displayed to buyers.
benton.org/headlines/facebook-enabled-advertisers-reach-jew-haters | ProPublica
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
GAO REPORT ON FCC ENFORCEMENT
[SOURCE: Government Accountability Office, AUTHOR: Mark Goldstein]
The Government Accountability Office was asked to review Federal Communications Commission’s management of its enforcement program. In this report, GAO addresses: (1) actions FCC has taken in the last 5 years to update its enforcement program, (2) FCC’s enforcement performance goals and measures, and (3) selected stakeholders’ views on FCC’s enforcement program and external communications. GAO reviewed FCC’s enforcement policies and procedures; analyzed FCC’s performance measures and spoke with officials of similarly sized independent agencies with enforcement missions; and interviewed FCC officials and 22 stakeholders from public and private organizations who were knowledgeable of the Enforcement Bureau and the communications industry. The GAO Recommends: FCC should establish and publish: (1) quantifiable performance goals and related measures for its enforcement program; and (2) a communications strategy outlining its enforcement program for external stakeholders. FCC concurred with the recommendations.
benton.org/headlines/gao-report-fcc-updated-its-enforcement-program-improved-transparency-needed | Government Accountability Office
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POLICYMAKERS
FCC’S NEW DIVERSITY CHAIR LOBBIED AGAINST NET NEUTRALITY AND SERVICES FOR MINORITY COMMUNITIES
[SOURCE: The Intercept, AUTHOR: Lee Fang]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai selected Julia Johnson, president of a consulting firm called NetCommunications, to lead the FCC’s Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment, a group Chairman Pai said he established to champion the voice of every American, “no matter their race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.” Despite the laudatory title and mission of the diversity committee, Johnson is a consultant who perfectly embodies the corporations-first agenda of President Donald Trump’s FCC. Johnson has long worked on behalf of industry groups seeking to undermine consumer regulations and promote the interests of large corporate clients. Johnson also chairs the Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council which is funded by Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, and other large telecommunications firms. MMTC’s pro-Trump administration statements, cast as being made on behalf of communities of color, are typical of Johnson’s approach. Over the years, Johnson has used racial minorities as a cudgel to disingenuously lobby on behalf of industry. Johnson’s history of “astroturfing,” a term for lobbying using fake grassroots groups, goes back more than a decade.
benton.org/headlines/fccs-new-diversity-chair-lobbied-against-network-neutrality-and-services-minority | Intercept, The
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