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July 2016

Convention puts GOP tech to the test

The team behind the Republican National Convention has spent more than a year building their technology infrastructure for the big event. Now that work is being put to the test, as the convention kicks off in Cleveland (OH). “We’re launching a startup every four years,” said Max Everett, the chief information officer for the Republican National Convention, of the massive effort to keep attendees informed, connected and secure. It takes more than a year for Everett to set up a convention — he’s worked on four — with networks built from the ground up each time. “We’ve had staff, including myself, who’ve been in and out of Cleveland for over a year now,” Everett said. The party is also working with tech and communications giants, including Google, Microsoft and AT&T, to deliver services. Here are some of the notable ways the GOP is using technology to cater to the estimated 50,000 people — not counting protesters — who will attend and cover the convention.

  • Expanded Wi-Fi: A great amount of work has gone into getting the convention venue, Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena, ready to handle the thousands of devices expected to connect to its public Wi-Fi network.
  • Strong connections for video: Those not in Cleveland will have options to stream the convention’s many speeches and events.
  • Cybersecurity: Everett said his convention networks have been breached "like any organization."
  • A beefed-up app: Not all of the convention’s technology is behind-the-scenes. When convention planners released their mobile app for the event, it was downloaded more times in its first week online than the total for the 2012 convention app.

Donald Trump the Political Showman, Born on ‘The Apprentice’

With its glamour and famous catchphrase — “You’re fired” — “The Apprentice,” which debuted in 2004, was the ultimate showcase for Donald J. Trump’s self-styled image as a power-wielding mogul. But it also served as a prequel of sorts for his improbable next act as a presidential nominee, who will return to prime time as the ringmaster of the Republican National Convention.

More than Trump’s real estate deals, the show transformed its star from a New York curiosity into a national sensation, introducing millions of viewers — and, later, voters — to a highly flattering, highly fictionalized version of Trump, more appealing than the real-life developer whose successes were tempered by bankruptcies and personal turmoil. Trump, who had little previous television experience, revealed a showman’s mastery of the medium, which he used in 2016 to confound political opponents and seduce ratings-hungry networks. Those skills will be on full display at the convention in Cleveland (OH), where Trump is personally wooing celebrities and overseeing stagecraft for a blowout spectacle that will be less C-Span, more MTV.

Peter Thiel: We Must Talk ‘Frankly’ About America’s Problems

A list of speakers for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland (OH) includes Peter Thiel, the litigious Silicon Valley billionaire investor, Facebook board member, and Donald Trump delegate, who, most recently, funded a revenge lawsuit against Gawker that forced the media company into bankruptcy. In a statement, Thiel explained why he wants to appear at the convention, an obligation even top Republicans have ducked. “Many people are uncertain in this election year,” he wrote, “but most Americans agree that our country is on the wrong track. I don’t think we can fix our problems unless we can talk about them frankly.”

In any other election year, Thiel’s presence at the convention wouldn’t be all that surprising. A known libertarian, he was one of the most prominent backers of Ron Paul’s 2012 Super PAC, and during primary season he was a key donor to Carly Fiorina’s Super PAC. But the fact that Trump is 2016’s presumptive Republican nominee makes Thiel’s support curious. On everything from trade to immigration to government data collection, Trump’s policies stand in direct opposition to the ones laid out by major industry groups like the Internet Association and TechNet.

San Francisco Opens Superpublic Innovation Lab

Federal technologists, change makers and academics joined the city of San Francisco (CA) in a ribbon cutting ceremony on July 14 for Superpublic, San Francisco’s new innovation lab. The venture is a first for the city as its work commands support and talent from regional, state and federal organizations in addition to academic and private-sector contributions.

The General Services Administration (GSA) — which manages 375 million square feet of federal property — has offered the lab a 5,000-square-foot operating space in the heart of San Francisco’s downtown and support from its digital consultancy 18F, housed in the same building, which works to guide government to build, buy and share modern technology. Other partners include UC Berkeley, the Center for Design Research at Stanford University, the MIT Media Lab, Microsoft and Deloitte. The lab’s supporting nonprofits include the City Innovate Foundation and the Local Government Commission, both with missions to drive urban innovation efforts. The lab will be mutually beneficial for the GSA. Denise Turner Roth, the GSA’s administrator, described Superpublic as a new testing ground to expand 18F’s footprint and impact in cities nationwide. Since it was founded in 2014, the group has grown to support a number of innovation projects in federal agencies. This has dispatched its team of engineers, designers and procurement specialists to develop and rework a bevy of digital tools and IT buying strategies that now can be applied more locally.

NCTA Shocked — SHOCKED! — to Discover Ex Parte Process At FCC.

[Commentary] Every now and then, I am reminded that the cable news networks such as Fox and MSNBC are members of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA). But seeing this recent blog post reminded me. While faux outrage and hypocrisy are hardly rare in Policyland, you rarely find this level of self-righteous sanctimony outside of cable news. As some folks may recall, I recently opined that AT&T choosing to sulk like Achilles in his tent rather than engage meaningfully in the ongoing rulemaking process.

NCTA — which also opposes the business data service (BDS, formerly special access) proceeding and has adopted the same strategy of acting like a disappointed 6 year old — chooses to deliberately misconstrue this as something other than the Federal Communications Commission’s standard, open ex parte process. What magnifies this almost to the level of self-parody is that NCTA is engaged in exactly this behavior on set-top boxes (STBs), where it has popped out with a sudden alternative #ditchthebox to the FCC’s #unlockthebox proposal. In all cases, of course, NCTA paradoxically insists that any refusal to negotiate around their proposals is somehow a sign that the FCC has impermissibly pre-decided. But if the FCC considers anyone else’s response to their proposals, or engages with stakeholders outside of the comment and/or reply comment period, it is a “smoke filled room.”

As Yahoo sale nears, do women in tech get pushed more onto the ‘glass cliff’?

For Yahoo, it's nearly all over but the shouting. Final bids are expected July 18 in the protracted sale of the core Internet business at Yahoo and it likely won't be long before we know the fate of both the faded Internet company and its embattled CEO, Marissa Mayer. When the shouting does come, it's likely to include even more analysis about Mayer's tenure -- what her time at the helm will say about women in technology, what she could have done differently, how she might spend the $55 million in severance she could receive in the event of a change in control.

Many will fault some of her big decisions: Big bets that didn't pay off, such as the $1.1 billion acquisition of the blogging service Tumblr, and key hires who didn't pan out. She promised the web browser Mozilla a lucrative change-in-control deal that could cost bidders more than $1 billion. But others will say that Mayer, like other women before her in technology, was dealt a tough hand in the first place, accepting a particularly precarious leadership role often known as the "glass cliff." Research has shown that women disproportionately receive opportunities to lead at difficult times, and the tech sector would seem to have a preponderance of examples.

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