BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
Upcoming events https://www.benton.org/calendar
NEWS FROM THE FCC MEETING
FCC Releases 20th Wireless Competition Report - press release
Public Knowledge Responds to FCC Report Claiming “Effective” Wireless Industry Competition - press release
AT&T Cheers As FCC Declares Wireless Market Competitive [links to AT&T press release]
FCC to Examine 911 Capabilities of Enterprise Communications Systems - press release [links to Benton summary]
FCC Updates Rules to Facilitate Non-Geostationary Satellite Systems - press release [links to Benton summary]
Elon Musk’s Plan to Girdle Earth With Satellites Hits Turbulence [links to Benton summary]
FCC Proposes to Ease Hearing Aid Compatibility Reporting Regulations for Small Wireless Carriers - press release [links to Benton summary]
FCC Seeks Comment on Modernizing Toll Free Numbering System - press release [links to Benton summary]
FCC Proposes to Eliminate Requirement to Keep Hard Copies of FCC Rules - press release [links to Benton summary]
FCC Proposes Fine of Unlicensed Radio Station and Property Owners - press release [links to Benton summary]
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
President Trump has been great for the economy. The anti-Trump economy, that is. [links to Benton summary]
President Trump has picked fights over the flag before. But this time was different. [links to Benton summary]
The Democratic Coalition Asks Department of Justice to Investigate Trump’s Attack on NFL Players [links to Wrap, The]
Attorney General Sessions on NFL players kneeling during anthem: ‘That is a big mistake to protest in that fashion’ [links to Washington Post]
Attorney General Sessions’s appallingly cynical defense of free speech [links to Washington Post]
Attorney General Sessions: ‘Protecting free speech does not mean condoning violence like’ in Charlottesville [links to Washington Post]
Attorney General Sessions criticizes US universities for their free-speech policies [links to Washington Post]
Department of Justice Backs Challenge of Campus 'Free Speech' Zones [links to Multichannel News]
ELECTIONS
Video: Senate Intelligence Chairman Burr: Facebook has ‘been incredibly helpful’ to Senate probe into Russian meddling in 2016 election [links to Washington Post]
What We Know -- And Don't Know -- About Facebook, Trump, and Russia [links to Wired]
What, Exactly, Were Russians Trying to Do With Those Facebook Ads? [links to Benton summary]
The FEC's plans for political ad disclosures [links to Benton summary]
The Minimal Persuasive Effects of Campaign Contact in General Elections: Evidence from 49 Field Experiments - research [links to Benton summary]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Hurricane Maria Communications Status Report for Sept. 26 [links to Federal Communications Commission]
FCC Response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria [links to Federal Communications Commission]
Puerto Ricans hunt for precious Wi-Fi and cell signals [links to Benton summary]
Ham Radio Hobbyists Are Connecting the Caribbean After Hurricane Maria [links to Benton summary]
CPB Awards Grant to NPR to Help Public Radio Stations Improve Emergency Messaging [links to Corporation for Public Broadcasting]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
DHS planning to collect social media info on all immigrants
Equifax CEO Richard Smith steps down amid hacking scandal [links to Washington Post]
Most Americans think the government could be monitoring their phone calls and emails - research [links to Benton summary]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Why 23 million Americans don’t have fast internet [links to Benton summary]
FCC Rewrote America’s Broadband History; Covers Up $½ Trillion in Overcharging [links to Bruce Kushnick]
Part II: Facts Missing from the FCC’s Section 706 Broadband Reports [links to Bruce Kushnick]
19 Years of FCC Section 706 Comments and Complaints [links to Bruce Kushnick]
AT&T says it’s not ignoring low-income broadband needs [links to Benton summary]
Without a Net: The Digital Divide in America, a new documentary - press release [links to Benton summary]
OTI Submits FCC Comments on Broadband Deployment [links to Benton summary]
For internet gatekeepers, consumer protection laws are better than utility-style regulation - Brookings [links to Benton summary]
NTCA Awards Thirteen Smart Rural Communities with National Awards - press release [links to Benton summary]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Can markets give us more radio spectrum? - AEI op-ed [links to Benton summary]
OWNERSHIP
UHF Discount Foes Fire First Legal Shot
JOURNALISM
Knight Foundation Announces Major Trust, Media and Democracy Initiative to Build a Stronger Future for Journalism - press release
How Fake News Turned a Small Town in ID Upside Down [links to Benton summary]
HEALTH
CBO Scores Increasing Telehealth Access in Medicare Act [links to Congressional Budget Office]
CONTENT
As Google Fights Fake News, Voices on the Margins Raise Alarm [links to Benton summary]
Twitter tests 280-character tweets [links to Los Angeles Times]
Facebook to Distribute Video Content From NFL [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
White House Reiterates E-mail Policy After News Of Officials Using Private Accounts [links to Benton summary]
Hillary Clinton: Trump officials' private email use 'height of hypocrisy' [links to Hill, The]
CBO Scores Connected Government Act [links to Congressional Budget Office]
POLICYMAKERS
Sen Corker (R-TN) Won't Seek Re-election, Rep Blackburn Expresses Interest in Seat
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Silicon Valley and governments have to play nice if we want to save the world [links to Benton summary]
Russia threatens to block Facebook unless it starts storing Russian users' data there [links to Los Angeles Times]
EU study finds piracy doesn’t hurt game sales, may actually help [links to Ars Technica]
NEWS FROM THE FCC MEETING
WIRELESS COMPETITION REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission approved its 20th Annual Mobile Wireless Competition Report. For the first time since 2009, the FCC makes an affirmative finding that the metrics assessed in the Report indicate that there is effective competition in the marketplace for mobile wireless services. The 20th Report concludes that competition continues to play an essential role in the mobile wireless marketplace, driving innovation and investment to the benefit of the American people and economy.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-releases-20th-wireless-competition-report | Federal Communications Commission
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PK RESPONDS TO WIRELESS INDUSTRY COMPETITION DECISION
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
It is ironic that at the very moment the public is debating whether reliance on four-firm competition is enough to protect small businesses and consumers, the Federal Communications Commission declares "mission accomplished." We shouldn’t ignore how four-firm competition, data roaming rules, spectrum screens and other regulations adopted by previous Administrations continue to benefit consumers. At the same time, we cannot ignore the continuing problems of concentration -- particularly in rural markets and for low-income Americans. The purpose of the Competition Report is to provide an important tool for Congress and the American people to understand the wireless market. It is not intended to put a happy face on an industry that remains concentrated by conventional antitrust metrics.
benton.org/headlines/public-knowledge-responds-fcc-report-claiming-effective-wireless-industry-competition | Public Knowledge
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
DHS PLANNING TO COLLECT SOCIAL MEDIA INFO ON ALL IMMIGRANTS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Max Greenwood]
The Department of Homeland Security has moved to collect social media information on all immigrants, including permanent residents and naturalized citizens. A new rule published in the Federal Register the week of Sept 18 calls to include "social media handles and aliases, associated identifiable information and search results" in the department's immigrant files. The new rule could also affect US citizens who communicate with immigrants on social media by making their conversations the subject of government surveillance. Homeland Security's inspector general published a report earlier in 2016 concluding that DHS pilot programs for using social media to screen immigration applicants "lack criteria for measuring performance to ensure they meet their objectives." "Although the pilots include some objectives, such as determining the effectiveness of an automated search tool and assessing data collection and dissemination procedures, it is not clear DHS is measuring and evaluating the pilots’ results to determine how well they are performing against set criteria," the report reads.
benton.org/headlines/dhs-planning-collect-social-media-info-all-immigrants | Hill, The
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OWNERSHIP
UHF DISCOUNT FOES FIRE FIRST LEGAL SHOT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Opponents of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai's restoration of the UHF discount, which helped pave the way for a possible Sinclair/Tribune merger, have taken their first shot in federal court, saying the decision was illegally arbitrary and capricious and served no public interest purpose. Late Sept 25, a coalition of nonprofit media consolidation critics including Free Press, Common Cause, the National Hispanic Media Coalition and Prometheus Radio Project, laid out their case for why the decision to reinstate the discount was arbitrary and capricious and not in the public interest. The previous Democratic-led FCC had eliminated the discount as an outmoded artifact of the analog TV era. The groups, filing their opening brief in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, said the FCC did not present any "valid or factual legal basis" for the discount's return. "The best indication that reinstating the discount was not actually intended to maintain the status quo, is the fact that, just two weeks after the Commission issued its decision reinstating the discount, Intervenor Sinclair announced plans to acquire Intervenor Tribune," they told the court. That deal could give Sinclair, already the largest TV station group at slightly under the 39% cap, a reach of over 70% of the country.
benton.org/headlines/uhf-discount-foes-fire-first-legal-shot | Broadcasting&Cable
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JOURNALISM
KNIGHT FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES MAJOR TRUST, MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE
[SOURCE: Knight Foundation, AUTHOR: Press release]
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced a major initiative to support the role of strong, trusted journalism as essential to a healthy democracy. The initiative is anchored by the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy, a panel of thinkers and doers from diverse backgrounds committed to creating more informed and engaged communities. This nonpartisan commission will explore causes for the erosion of trust in democratic institutions, in particular the press. It will also identify new thinking and solutions around rebuilding trust. The Knight Commission will be chaired by Jamie Woodson, executive chairman and CEO of Tennessee’s State Collaborative on Reforming Education, and Tony Marx, president of The New York Public Library, the largest public library in the nation and the most used library system in the world. It will be run by the Aspen Institute, with $2 million in support from Knight. The initiative also includes the Knight Prototype Fund, which fosters accurate information in media and announced a new round of winners in June 2017, and Newsmatch, a partnership with Democracy Fund to support nonprofit news and investigative news outlets with matching grants during the end-of-year giving period; Newsmatch was initially launched by Knight in December 2016. Knight plans to build on the initiative further with the help of the commission and other partners.
benton.org/headlines/knight-foundation-announces-major-trust-media-and-democracy-initiative-build-stronger | Knight Foundation
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POLICYMAKERS
CORKER WONT SEEK RE-ELECTION
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Scott Wong]
Sen Bob Corker (R-TN), chairman of the influential Foreign Relations Committee, will not seek re-election in 2018. He is the first senator to announce retirement plans ahead of 2018's election cycle. "I believe the most important public service I have to offer our country could well occur over the next 15 months," Sen Corker said, "and I want to be able to do that as thoughtfully and independently as I did the first 10 years and nine months of my Senate career." Minutes after learning that Sen Corker won’t seek reelection, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said she’s considering running for his Senate seat in 2018. “Yes,” Blackburn said when asked if she's taking a look at the Senate race.
benton.org/headlines/sen-corker-r-tn-wont-seek-re-election-rep-blackburn-expresses-interest-seat | NPR | The Hill
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