BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016
The Keyes to Digital Inclusion: An Interview with David Keyes, Digital Equity Manager, City of Seattle
AGENDA
FCC Announces Tentative Agenda For June 2017 Open Meeting - press release
Enhancing Public Safety, Network Reliability, and Agency Operations - Chairman Wheeler blog
OWNERSHIP
Principles for Media Ownership Reform - FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly
SECURITY/PRIVACY
FCC offers hope for consumers' seeking online privacy protections - Troy Wolverton
Tech, Civil Liberties Advocates Wary of Email Privacy Amendments
Phone security will soon hinge on people’s behavior—but that could make it easier for the government to unlock the devices [links to Atlantic, The]
No One Will Save You From Cellphone Tracking [links to Benton summary]
U.S. lawmakers probe Fed cyber breaches, cite 'serious concerns' [links to Reuters]
Privacy Groups – and Uber – Challenge FBI’s Attempt to Bypass Privacy Act [links to nextgov]
Fashion Industry Tells Commerce Dept: We Need Better Cybersecurity for Internet-Connected Clothes [links to nextgov]
Is Facebook eavesdropping on us? [links to Christian Science Monitor]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The Keyes to Digital Inclusion: An Interview with David Keyes, Digital Equity Manager, City of Seattle
Data caps are a business decision—not a network necessity, Frontier says [links to Benton summary]
Ting Internet Gigabit Fiber Network Build Set to Begin in Holly Springs (NC) [links to Benton summary]
Windstream Expands Metro Fiber Network in Nashville [links to telecompetitor]
Strategy Analytics: Cable Broadband Market Share Surging, Now at 62% of Total Fixed Broadband Market [links to telecompetitor]
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Can Trump Productions’ Content Be a Kingmaker? - analysis
Thomas Mann: False equivalence in covering the 2016 campaign [links to Brookings]
John Podesta says Hillary Clinton will work harder to win over Silicon Valley [links to Revere Digital]
John Shinal: Clinton's cyber-security lapse part of broad U.S. challenge [links to USAToday]
National Association of Broadcasters Invited to Republican National Committee Policy Get-Together [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
Trump Campaign Stops Reporter From Doing Journalism At Rally [links to Huffington Post]
Paul Waldman: The media have reached a turning point in covering Donald Trump. He may not survive it. [links to Washington Post]
Eric Boehlert: Can Trump Whine His Way To The White House With Complaints About “Biased” Media Coverage? [links to Media Matters for America]
Donald Trump is blatantly racist — and the media is too scared to call him out on it [links to Vox]
Jayson Blair calls Donald Trump a liar. He thinks the media should, too. [links to Washington Post]
CONTENT
A First Amendment For Social Platforms - Medium op-ed [links to Benton summary]
The music industry cranks up the volume in its fight against YouTube [links to Verge, The]
Where Yahoo's entertainment media play went wrong [links to Los Angeles Times]
TELEVISION
FCC Sends Report to Congress on the Availability of Out-of-Market Television Signals [links to Federal Communications Commission]
Op-Ed: What CBS All Access Reveals About the Future of Television [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
ACCESSIBILITY
Real-Time Text: An IP-Based Solution for Accessible Communications - FCC blog [links to Benton summary]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FTC Staff Provides Response to NTIA Request for Comment on Internet of Things - press release [links to Benton summary]
JOURNALISM
IL May Soon Guarantee Students Their First Amendment Rights [links to Huffington Post]
The Internet Will Not Be Lowercased - press release [links to Benton summary]
EDUCATION
FCC Seeks Comment On Proposed Eligible Services List For The E-Rate Program [links to Federal Communications Commission]
Op-Ed: Tech companies need to raise the bar in education [links to Revere Digital]
LABOR
Digital Matching Firms: A New Definition in the “Sharing Economy” Space [links to Benton summary]
RESEARCH
Why the Economic Payoff From Technology Is So Elusive [links to Benton summary]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
IT Dashboard: Agencies Need to Fully Consider Risks When Rating Their Major Investments [links to Government Accountability Office]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
European Union, US sign data protection deal
Official correspondence reveals lack of scrutiny of MI5's data collection [links to Guardian, The]
The price sensitivity of mobile use among low income households in six countries of Asia [links to Telecommunications Policy]
ISIS's Mobile App Developers Are in Crisis Mode [links to Vice]
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AGENDA
FCC JUNE AGENDA
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the June Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Friday, June 24, 2016:
Reforming Executive Branch Review Process of Certain FCC Applications and Petitions Involving Foreign Ownership: The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks comments on changes to streamline and increase the transparency of the Executive Branch review of applications and petitions for national security, law enforcement, foreign policy and trade policy concerns. (IB Docket No. 16-155)
Adding Hurricane-Related Event Codes to the Emergency Alert System: The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would revise the Emergency Alert System rules by adding new event codes covering extreme high winds and storm surges caused by Category 3 (and greater) hurricanes. (PS Docket No. 15-94)
Improving Outage Reporting for Submarine Cables: The Commission will consider a Report and Order to require submarine cable licensees to report communications network outages to the FCC. (GN Docket No. 15-206)
benton.org/headlines/fcc-announces-tentative-agenda-june-2017-open-meeting | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC AGENDA II
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
Hurricane season officially arrived. It’s important for people who live in potential hurricane zones to think ahead about what their plan is if a storm threatens. The Federal Communications Commission and our government partners also need to make sure we are doing all we can in advance to help the public the next time disaster strikes. That is why I am proposing that we update the nation’s Emergency Alert System (EAS) codes. I am circulating rules for consideration at our June meeting that would add three new event codes to the EAS – “Extreme Wind Warning,” “Storm Surge Watch,” and “Storm Surge Warning.” – so that the public can receive more specific and relevant alerts, particularly for hurricane-related weather. If adopted, the updated rules would require EAS equipment manufacturers to integrate the codes into new equipment and enable EAS participants to update their existing equipment in advance of next year’s Atlantic hurricane season. Another way the FCC promotes public safety in times of crisis is by collecting data on network outages. Our outage reporting rules have enabled us to detect adverse outage trends and work with industry on solutions, monitor and assist restoration efforts, and coordinate with public safety officials and other affected third parties during crises. In 2015, we identified submarine cables as a gap in our reporting rules. These cables are essential to America’s economic stability and national security, yet licensees currently only report outages on an ad hoc basis. The information we receive is too limited and inconsistent to be of much use. Today, I circulated to my fellow Commissioners new rules that would require submarine cable licensees to report major communications outages to the FCC. Our June open meeting will feature a third item that seeks to improve FCC coordination with Executive Branch agencies concerning issues of national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, and trade policy raised by certain applications involving foreign ownership. Applicants seeking foreign ownership rulings from the FCC have raised concerns that this Executive Branch review process is too slow and needs greater transparency. The 2014 Staff Process Reform Report identified this coordination as needing reform, and since that time the FCC has been working with the Executive Branch and industry on ways to make improvements.
benton.org/headlines/enhancing-public-safety-network-reliability-and-agency-operations | Federal Communications Commission
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OWNERSHIP
PRINCIPLES FOR MEDIA OWNERSHIP REFORM
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly]
The Federal Communications Commission can better promote localism, competition, and diversity – and be consistent with the public interest – by thoughtfully removing outdated restrictions to media combinations. Specifically, the following principles should receive priority consideration in the media ownership reform effort to come:
Reasonably Define Markets: As with all Commission issues, definitions matter, and accordingly, our definition of the markets in which newspapers, radio stations, and television stations operate is the source of much line drawing in the application of the media ownership rules. In the 2014 Quadrennial Review FNPRM, the Commission shockingly refused to acknowledge any non-broadcast or non-newspaper competitors as market participants. Think about how misguided that is. As part of this year’s review, the Commission must take a realistic market view and account for the significant role that competitors such as MVPDs, over-the-top video providers, websites, streaming music services, and satellite radio play in the 2016 media marketplace.
Eliminate cross-ownership bans: Consumers are demanding 24/7 access to media content on numerous platforms, but artificial silos created by the cross-ownership bans are keeping broadcasters and newspapers from innovating into multi-platform entities that could better serve these needs. Evidence of synergies already exist in the form of grandfathered combinations and giving the opportunity for more, with additional outlets and platforms, could generate a boom in local content or perhaps prevent a further erosion from occurring in some markets. Eliminating the restrictions on newspaper/radio and radio/television combinations, as the 2014 FNPRM suggested, would be a proper start to reform our ownership rules, while the newspaper/television limits should follow the same course rather than face some type of incremental relief. If the Commission is serious about preserving localism and perhaps the newspaper industry, it should remove these artificial barriers keeping the most likely interested and qualified investors – local broadcasters – on the sidelines.
Eliminate Duopoly Rule: Perhaps restricting common ownership of two television stations in the same market may have made sense in 1964, when consumers only had a handful of programming options. Four decades later, surrounded by thousands of new options, how can the FCC justify maintaining this rule in its current form? In many markets, duopolies or even triopolies could strengthen the overall state of broadcasters and allow stations to concentrate more resources on bringing more and higher quality local content to their viewers. At the very least, some of the conditions attached should be eliminated or relaxed. For example, the “Eight Voices Test” was previously struck down by DC Circuit in 2004, and a previous Commission concluded that it could not be justified. It makes even less sense now. Why exactly eight in every case? This condition disproportionately impacts stations in small and mid-sized markets, more frequently preventing these stations, and their viewers, from accessing the benefits and efficiencies a combination could provide.
Provide More Waivers and Grandfathering: To the extent that any of the rules are left unchanged and my views are ignored, the Commission should, at a minimum, reform current waiver processes to make them clear and realistically obtainable, provide more opportunities for waivers, and allow grandfathering of existing combinations. The market size waivers proposed by various parties could mitigate the constrictive impact of these outdated rules on broadcasters in smaller markets. The Commission has properly grandfathered existing combinations in many contexts, and this policy should continue and expand wherever possible, such as by allowing grandfathered combinations to be freely transferrable. Additionally, the Commission should follow through on its proposal to grandfather radio intra-market community of license changes.
Resist Reinstating the JSA Ban: This rule has met its demise in the Third Circuit, and should not be resurrected under any circumstances. Congressional input both before, and even more so, after this ill-advised change has been crystal clear: JSAs have served the public interest well in many circumstances, and the Commission’s rules should not be interpreted to prevent them.
Reject Additional Restrictions: Public advocacy groups have clamored for additional tightening of the ownership rules. Proposals such as eliminating the UHF discount and limiting shared services agreements are completely illogical if the underlying rules are not properly addressed and modernized at the same time. To add further restrictions would harm the media industry and those it serves, including underrepresented populations.
benton.org/headlines/principles-media-ownership-reform | Federal Communications Commission
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
FCC PRIVACY PROCEEDING
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Troy Wolverton]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission is considering new rules that would restrict how broadband service providers -- companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon -- can use the data they collect on our internet habits. The rules would give consumers a better idea of what data's being collected by those companies and more control over how it's being used. The rules aren't perfect. For one thing, they probably need to go further than proposed to bar some particularly pernicious practices. For another, they wouldn't do a thing to restrict the kind of data collection being done by the Facebooks and Googles of the world. But they represent an important first step in rebalancing the privacy equation. It would be great if Congress would pass a general privacy law that would cover online companies as well as broadband providers. But until it does, any step toward protecting consumers' online privacy is better than none at all.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-offers-hope-consumers-seeking-online-privacy-protections | San Jose Mercury News
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TECH, CIVIL LIBERTIES ADVOCATES WARY OF E-MAIL PRIVACY AMENDMENTS
[SOURCE: Morning Consult, AUTHOR: Amir Nasr]
The Senate Judiciary Committee is mulling a few key amendments to a popular e-mail privacy bill that is worrying the tech and civil liberties communities. Among the most problematic for these groups is a pair of amendments offered by Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX), who is attempting to mollify law enforcement agencies. Sen Cornyn is a co-sponsor of the bill, but he doesn’t want agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission to oppose it. One amendment that could drive privacy supporters away would give federal investigators the authority to access various electronic identifying information without a warrant in counterterrorism cases. That amendment “strikes me as particularly problematic, both because of the breadth of the expansion and the possibility it will cause some supporters … to pull their support for the bill,” said Bijan Madhani, public policy and regulatory counsel at the Computer & Communications Industry Association. CCIA represents Facebook, Google, and Amazon.com. The committee is expected to take up the e-mail privacy bill the week of June 6. The measure would amend the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before getting access to the content of online communications stored longer than 180 days or in a cloud service. Previously, that content was thought to be abandoned. Civil liberties and tech advocates are wary of making any changes to a bill that has been five years in the making. They argue there should be no more changes now that the House passed an identical measure 419-0 in late April.
benton.org/headlines/tech-civil-liberties-advocates-wary-email-privacy-amendments | Morning Consult
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
THE KEYES TO DIGITAL INCLUSION
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Robbie McBeath]
The following is an edited interview with David Keyes, Digital Equity Manager of the City of Seattle. The conversation took place during the Net Inclusion Summit May 18-19, 2016 in Kansas City, Missouri. At the summit, Keyes was the first recipient of the Charles Benton Digital Equity Champion Award for his work championing a holistic approach to closing the digital divide. In this interview with the Benton Foundation’s Robbie McBeath, Keyes discusses his career path, the digital equity work being done in Seattle, and highlights best practices that policymakers can adopt to increase digital inclusion.
benton.org/headlines/keyes-digital-inclusion-interview-david-keyes-digital-equity-manager-city-seattle | Benton Foundation
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
TRUMP PRODUCTIONS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jim Rutenberg]
[Commentary] It’s time to stop calling Donald J. Trump’s presidential operation “the Trump campaign.” It would be far more accurate to call it “Trump Productions Inc.” Trump is not running a campaign in the modern sense — or what was the modern sense until about yesterday. Rather, he oversees a prolific content production studio that has accomplished what every major media conglomerate is trying to pull off with mixed success. It has managed to produce a huge amount of inexpensive programming that has consistently dominated the ratings and the conversation across the entire new-media landscape — cable news, broadcast news, radio, Twitter, Facebook and who knows what else. With Trump as its star, show runner and chief content officer, the operation has taken over the vast media space with multiple running plotlines (War With Megyn Kelly; Peace With Megyn Kelly!), shocking comments (A federal judge can’t be fair to me because he’s of Mexican heritage!) and personal insults (Hillary belongs in jail; that reporter is a sleaze!) that keep Americans glued to their screens. Trump Productions appears to be operating on the premise that as long as the conversation is all about Trump, he is winning. Content is not only king, it is kingmaker, too.
benton.org/headlines/can-trump-productions-content-be-kingmaker | New York Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
EU, US SIGN DATA PROTECTION DEAL
[SOURCE: Agence France-Presse, AUTHOR: ]
The European Union and the United States signed a deal to protect personal data transferred across the Atlantic in a bid to fight crime and terrorism. The so-called umbrella agreement signed in the Dutch city of Amsterdam follows five years of talks hobbled by European concerns about revelations of large-scale US snooping. "It will improve cooperation between US and European law enforcement authorities when combatting serious crime and terrorism," Dutch Justice Minister Ard van der Steur said at a signing ceremony during the six-month Dutch presidency of the EU. "It will advance the full respect for fundamental rights whenever personal data is being transferred between us," he said at the ceremony with US Attorney General Loretta Lynch. The European parliament must still give its consent to the agreement which was signed after the United States adopted in February a prerequisite law granting EU citizens the right to judicial redress in the US. An EU statement said the umbrella agreement covers all personal information shared between EU member states and US law enforcement authorities in a bid to prevent, investigate, detect and prosecute criminal offences, including terrorism. The deal will not only facilitate law enforcement cooperation but guarantee the legality of data transfers, it added. Safeguards include setting clear limits on data use and requiring agencies to seek consent before data is transferred, it said.
benton.org/headlines/european-union-us-sign-data-protection-deal | Agence France-Presse
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