Stories from Abroad

Amid the NBA-China controversy, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said that the situation is a “disturbing lesson” on Chinese government leverage. “If the Chinese government has such leverage over NBA stars and the league itself, that raises the question, how else can they can export their censorship, their anti-Democratic values, and ultimately their control when it comes to even more important things like our 5G networks, the wireless networks of the future?” Chairman Pai said.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that European Union courts can demand Facebook actively monitor and delete illegal material such as hate speech. The court said there is nothing in EU current law stopping Facebook from searching and deleting duplicate posts of content that has been declared illegal. The court said the searches and deletion can be done in the EU but also worldwide should national courts demand it.

The House Communications Subcommittee considered a handful of bills Sept. 27 at the hearing "Legislating to Secure America's Wireless Future" -- the thrust of which were to protect 5G networks from foreign intruders looking to spy on the US, as well as to efficiently manage spectrum. Bills being considered at the hearing were: 

Internet shutdowns have become one of the defining tools of government repression in the 21st century in a growing number of countries, mainly in Asia and Africa, that are seeking to quash dissent. The shutdowns do more than stunt the democratic process.

European Union officials have drawn up an aggressive 173-page plan to counter both President Donald Trump’s trade moves and American tech giants including Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook. European Commission officials are pushing their president-elect, Ursula von der Leyen, to set up a European Future Fund that would invest more than $100 billion in equity stakes in high-potential European companies. The goal: get Europe competing head-on with the American and Chinese tech giants it has lagged behind for decades.

Internet use is rising in emerging economies, but access to fast, reliable service remains elusive to many living in these nations.

Facebook unveiled its long-awaited feature allowing users to limit businesses, apps, and other groups that collect data about them on the Web and pass that information to the tech giant — a move that may disappoint people who thought they would be able to delete that information from Facebook in full. The social media giant said the new tools to control “Off-Facebook Activity” are designed to “shed more light” on a form of online tracking — around shopping habits, web-browsing histories and other activities — that determines some of the ads people see on Facebook.

Apparently, Google has shut down a service it provided to wireless carriers globally that showed them weak spots in their network coverage because of Google’s concerns that sharing data from users of its Android phone system might attract the scrutiny of users and regulators. The withdrawal of the service has disappointed wireless carriers that used the data as part of their decision-making process on where to extend or upgrade their coverage.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the US Department of Commerce identified 46 additional Huawei affiliates that require inclusion on the Entity List, as part of a routine review of all Entity Listings. Since May, the Dept has added over one hundred persons or organizations to the Entity List in connection to Huawei. The new restrictions on these affiliates are effective Aug 19th.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada's telecommunications regulator, says it has lowered the rates for wholesale broadband access as it looks to increase competition among internet providers. The lower rates announced by the CRTC means it will be cheaper for smaller internet providers to buy broadband capacity on the networks owned by the big telecom providers. The CRTC requires that the large cable and telephone companies make available parts of their network, at rates set by the regulator, to improve competition and lower prices.