Daily Digest 12/4/2017 (FCC Delays National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier)

If you heard that the Federal Communications Commission received a staggering 21.7 million comments during its open comment period on its forthcoming net neutrality ruling, you might assume this phenomenon represented democracy in action. But in reality, those 21.7 million comments represent a new challenge to democracy — specifically to the way we register what actually counts as an opinion. The FCC made clear that it would be dismissing most of the 21.7 million comments submitted to its website as part of the open comment period on its planned repeal of net neutrality laws. The reason? Too many of them were duplicates — millions of which likely came from spambots rather than people. Now, new analysis from the Pew Research Center digs into the nature of these duplicate comments, and makes clear many of them are hurting the democratic nature of the process more than they’re helping.

[Commentary] The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission wants to let Comcast, Verizon and other broadband companies turn the internet into a latter-day version of cable TV, in which they decide what customers can watch and how much they pay for that content. That might sound like a far-fetched scenario. But there is reason to fear that some version of that awful vision could become a reality, because most Americans have just one or two choices for broadband access at home. [Editorial]

Comcast is defending its changed net neutrality pledges in the face of criticism from Internet users. The deletion of a net neutrality promise immediately after the Federal Communications Commission started repealing its net neutrality rules is just a "language" change, the company says. Comcast is telling customers that it still has no plans to institute paid prioritization—while avoiding a promise that it won't do so in the future. Comcast spokesperson Sena Fitzmaurice said, "Part of the filings we did this year about paid prioritization is that there have been some things in the marketplace that have come out and been pro-consumer. Some people call it 'zero ratings.' Some people call it paid prioritization, like T-Mobile's Binge On plan. A lot were up in arms about it but a lot of consumers seemed to like it."  Paid prioritization would involve a website or online application provider paying an ISP like Comcast for faster access to Internet users and is banned outright by the current net neutrality rules. Zero-rating is the exemption of certain Internet content from data caps. This isn't banned by the net neutrality rules, but it could fall afoul of the FCC's "general conduct rule" if it is implemented in a way that harms consumers or competitors.

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau announces that the launch of the National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier (National Verifier), originally scheduled for six initial states in December 2017, will be postponed until early 2018. Recently, as the development of the National Verifier has progressed, USAC advised the Bureau that the National Verifier’s systems have unresolved potential vulnerabilities that have not yet been completed under the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). If the National Verifier is launched before its underlying systems have been fully tested and before USAC has remediated critical vulnerabilities, the security of personal subscriber information located in the National Verifier databases could be compromised. We take seriously the Commission’s statutory obligation and responsibility under FISMA to “provid[e] information security protections commensurate with the risk and magnitude of the harm resulting from

The Federal Communications Commission released it's latest report and order on the Lifeline program. Comments in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking are due January 24, 2018; replies are due February 23, 2018. 

Decades after internet access became widely available, Pew Research Center surveys show that about a tenth of American adults (12%) remain offline. But what happens when some of them take the plunge and connect? A new analysis provides a glimpse of the online behaviors of those who are new to the internet. For starters, having access to the internet did not lead to more online exploration for some of the people we studied. Some had difficulties with their tablets. Some ventured out into online activities.These new users had a particular demographic profile (skewed older, more female and had lower household incomes and educational attainment). New users liked going online to learn new things and access entertainment. 

Google and Facebook are set to attract 84 percent of global spending on digital advertising, excluding China, in 2017, according to a forecast from GroupM, the WPP-owned media buying agency, underscoring concerns that the two technology companies have become a digital duopoly. The research predicts that total global ad spending will increase by about $23 billion, or 4.3 percent, in 2018. “Digital accounts for most of this growth and that means Google and Facebook,” said Adam Smith, futures director of GroupM. Excluding China, global spending on digital advertising in 2017 will be around $100bn, according to GroupM, with the dominance of Google and Facebook coming at the expense of other companies in traditional and online media.