[Commentary] A year and a half ago, this blog discussed the “Sisyphean Task” imposed upon the Federal Communications Commission to engage in a never-ending review of its broadcast ownership rules. If you are wondering what has happened since then, the answer is “very little,” in large part because of the odd lassitude of a federal appeals court. This is going to change in the coming months.
The State Department has concluded there is "top secret" material in Hillary Clinton's e-mail correspondence from the time she was secretary of state, indicating that some of her e-mails will never be released, even in heavily redacted form, because they are too sensitive for the public to view. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the material crosses seven e-mail chains, amounting to 37 pages worth of material. The finding is likely to deepen the political consequences for Clinton of her decision to use a private e-mail account, routed through a server installed in her suburban New York home, and it comes just three days before the Iowa caucuses, as Clinton remains locked in a heated battle with Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The State Department's conclusion came as it has worked to process 55,000 pages of Clinton's correspondence for public release, including about 1,000 pages that will be released Jan 29. Clinton has said none of her e-mails were marked classified when they were sent. However, it is the responsibility of individual government officials to handle classified material appropriately, including by properly marking it as classified, and the finding means that information deemed highly sensitive passed through the unsecured system that Clinton directed be established for her use. Kirby said the State Department has not yet made a determination of whether the information was classified at the time it was sent or has become more sensitive due to subsequent events. He said that, regardless, the information was deemed too sensitive for release.
Comcast customers used to be able to binge on all the Netflix and YouTube videos they wanted without repercussions. Now many are being put on a diet. In a growing number of cities, the nation’s largest cable company has begun imposing extra fees on Internet customers who use what it considers excessive amounts of data. The move could bring in new revenue to offset losses from cord-cutters dropping pay-TV service to stream videos online.
The strategy poses risks. In 2008, Time Warner Cable tried to limit customers’ Internet use then dropped the plan the next year after a public backlash. Comcast has also faced questions from regulators about why its own streaming service doesn’t count toward subscriber data limits, as well as complaints from customers and online video providers. In almost all of Comcast’s test markets, which include Atlanta (GA), Nashville (TN) and Miami (FL), customers who exceed 300 gigabytes a month -- the equivalent of streaming high-definition video five hours a day, by one estimate -- pay $10 more for additional increments of 50 gigabytes.
The Federal Communications Commission announced that Roger C. Sherman, Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, will be departing the Commission at the end of February. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler intends to name Jon Wilkins, currently the Commission’s Managing Director, as his replacement. In addition, the Chairman plans to name Mark Stephens as acting Managing Director.
Prior to joining the Commission in 2013, Sherman served as Democratic Chief Counsel to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and held a variety of senior policy and legal positions in Congress since 2007. Wilkins joined the Commission in late 2013 as the FCC’s chief operating official and served as the Chairman’s advisor for management. Prior to joining the Commission, Wilkins spent 16 years at McKinsey & Company in Washington, DC, where he was a partner and a leader in the company’s Telecommunications, Media, and Technology practice. He earned a law degree from Yale Law School and a bachelor’s from Dartmouth College. Stephens has served as the FCC’s Chief Financial Officer since 2006, serving as a senior
advisor in areas including on budgeting, financial management, and internal controls. Stephens also has held a number of other senior management positions at the FCC. Before joining the Commission, he served as a controller in the private sector. He earned a bachelor’s from Loyola College and a master’s from the George Washington University.
The Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Transportation (DOT) have agreed to establish a Federal Interagency Working Group (Working Group) to more effectively collaborate and coordinate with other relevant agencies on issues that intersect their respective domains, including the safe and secure use of consumer communications onboard domestic commercial aviation. This agreement builds on the productive, collaborative interagency coordination efforts in recent years as aviation communications safety and security concerns have emerged.
The DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the FCC will co-chair the Working Group, with the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau coordinating efforts within the FCC. The Working Group’s primary mission will be to harmonize policy and regulatory activities regarding safe and secure communications and aviation while maintaining the independent policy-making responsibilities of each agency. In addition to FAA and FCC subject matter and regulatory experts, Federal Government representatives from law enforcement, intelligence, defense, national and homeland security agencies will participate in the Working Group to identify, analyze, discuss, and make recommendations regarding steps that are needed to ensure the continued safe and secure use of consumer communications technology onboard domestic commercial aircraft. The Working Group will also invite other relevant Federal Government entities to participate, as appropriate, and will keep these organizations informed of significant conclusions. The Working Group will meet on a quarterly basis or at other times as circumstances dictate.
Google Fiber is sending out invitations to an experimental telephone service for some of its high-speed Internet subscribers, according to two people who have received the invitation. The service, known as Google Fiber Phone, closely resembles another Google product, Google Voice. That application lets users link all of their various telephones, including landline and mobile devices, to a single phone number. Fiber Phone comes with Google Voice features, such as voicemail transcriptions and automatic call screening based on the time of day.
+The invite has been rolling out for at least the past month to members of the Google Fiber Trusted Tester program. The Trusted Tester program involves Fiber subscribers who have opted in to try new and potential changes to their service. Officially, Google Fiber does not offer traditional phone service. But if the company rolls out Fiber Phone more widely, Google would become a true triple-play provider, offering customers a mix of broadband, television and telephony — just like its rivals in the cable industry. From there, it wouldn't be much of a leap for Google to begin offering its broadband subscribers bundled access to Project Fi, Google's recently launched cellular service that hops between Sprint, T-Mobile and WiFi. As many cable companies mull an entry into the competitive wireless market, it appears Google may already be positioning itself to get ahead of them.
In an Federal Communications Commission filing, Google has told the US government that it believes its secret airborne network won't interfere with any existing networks and won't harm any people or animals. Google has been hoping to perform a "two-year nationwide test" of the network and recently addressed some concerns people had raised about it. In the filing, Google only calls the project a "nationwide testing of airborne and terrestrial transmitters in the 71-76 and 81-86 GHz bands (collectively, the E-band)." It wants to keep the project a secret, but all signs point to it being for Project Loon, Google's airborne network of balloons which it has primarily tested in New Zealand.
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