BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016
Today's Event -- Navigating the New Matchmaker Economy: The Role of Antitrust and Regulation, Georgetown University Law Center -- https://www.benton.org/calendar
INTERNET/BROADBAND
CTIA Seeking Full Court Review of Title II Decision
Internet providers won’t rest until the government’s net-neutrality rules are dead [links to Benton summary]
Verizon talking to cities about fiber expansion after years of stagnation
Why Internet speed is far less important than you think - AEI op-ed [links to Benton summary]
ELECTIONS 2016
Donald Trump Calls on Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails
Democrats Ignored Cybersecurity Warnings Before Theft
What’s the scoop with Russia and the US election? [links to Washington Post]
The Democrats’ well-deserved WikiLeaks blowback - WaPo opinion [links to Benton summary]
A better tech platform for Hillary Clinton - X-Lab op-ed
Media Call Out Newspapers For Leaving Hillary Clinton's Photo Off Front Pages After History-Making Nomination [links to Media Matters for America]
Owner of ClintonKaine.com wants $90,000 [links to CNNMoney]
Donald Trump orders NBC’s Katy Tur to ‘be quiet’ [links to Washington Post]
5 facts about how people view Hillary Clinton’s candidacy - Pew research [links to Benton summary]
Did Sanders have the right priorities on social media before Clinton clinched? - CJR op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Watching the press at the DNC [links to Benton summary]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
How DNC, Clinton campaign attacks fit into Russia’s cyber-war strategy - analysis
How a new breed of hack compromised 2,500 gambling sites at once [links to Verge, The]
The Most Critical Skills Gap: Cybersecurity [links to Fast Company]
Dozens of Lawyers Across the US Fight the FBI's Mass Hacking Campaign [links to Vice]
Op-ed: How the Justice Department data-sharing plan defends privacy [links to Christian Science Monitor]
ED TECH
FCC to Fine AT&T $106K for Overcharging Florida Schools and E-rate Program - press release [links to Benton summary]
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Commissioner O'Rielly Statement on Biennial Review Public Notice - press release [links to Benton summary]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Frontier, AirTies Make Home Wi-Fi Connection [links to Benton summary]
OWNERSHIP
T-Mobile's John Legere says Verizon-Yahoo is `slippery slope' [links to Benton summary]
TELEVISION
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Says Chairman Wheeler Should Abandon Set-Top Box Plan [links to Hill, The]
More TV Content, Less Channel Surfing [links to MultichannelNews]
CONTENT
Comcast CEO: 'Over-the-Top Economics Are Unproven To Us' [links to Benton summary]
ADVERTISING
Tumblr Is Debuting Ads That Will Pay Its Bloggers a Cut of the Sales [links to AdWeek]
JOURNALISM
How WikiLeaks Has Changed: From Whistleblower To Weapon [links to Fast Company]
News anchor quits to become a Lyft driver – with a twist [links to CNNMoney]
DIVERSITY
Through Social Media, Academics Spur Conversations on Race and Equity [links to EdSurge]
LABOR
It’s the data, stupid: Why database admins are more important than ever [links to Ars Technica]
The Most Critical Skills Gap: Cybersecurity [links to Fast Company]
PATENTS
USPTO and 21st Century Governance [links to Department of Commerce]
POLICYMAKERS
Robert Gessner Re-Elected American Cable Association Chair [links to Mutlichannel News]
COMPANY NEWS
Comcast’s better than expected results as revenue rises 3 percent on high-speed service [links to Financial Times]
Facebook's second-quarter earnings smash Wall Street's expectations thanks to booming mobile ad sales [links to San Jose Mercury News]
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
CTIA SEEKING FULL COURT REVIEW OF TITLE II DECISION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
CTIA: The Wireless Association, which represents wireless Internet service providers, will seek an en banc (full court) rehearing of the three-judge panel decision upholding the Federal Communications Commission's Open Internet order reclassifying fixed and mobile broadband as telecommunications services subject to Title II common carrier regulations, apparently. The deadline for seeking that hearing from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is July 28, 45 days after the initial decision June 14. CTIA will, not surprisingly, focus on the wireless portion of that decision—the FCC for the first time said its network neutrality rules applied to wireless as well as wired broadband. Much to CTIA's dismay, the three-judge panel said the FCC had the statutory authority to make that call. “The Commission permissibly found that mobile broadband like all broadband—is a telecommunications service subject to common carrier regulation under Title II of the Communications Act,” the three-judge panel said. The FCC initially classified mobile broadband as a private radio service back in 2007, the court pointed out, considering it a “nascent” service rather than one reaching a substantial portion of the public, which would make it a commercial mobile service subject to common carrier regulations. But this time around the FCC said that with hundreds of millions now using mobile to access the Internet, it was a commercial service and should be classified as such. The court agreed. CTIA argues that mobile is qualitatively different from fixed, something the FCC has previously acknowledge, and requires "far more complex and aggressive network management than fixed broadband requires," which is why it says the FCC was wrong to apply the same regulations to both.
benton.org/headlines/ctia-seeking-full-court-review-title-ii-decision | Broadcasting&Cable
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VERIZON TALKING TO CITIES ABOUT FIBER EXPANSION AFTER YEARS OF STAGNATION
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
As Verizon plans a fiber expansion in Boston (MA), CEO Lowell McAdam said the company is talking to other cities about potentially building fiber networks. Verizon stopped expanding its FiOS fiber-to-the-home Internet, TV, and phone service several years ago, making it a surprise when in April the company announced plans to replace its copper network in Boston with fiber. McAdam said, "We are talking to other cities about similar partnerships." Verizon's fiber expansion plans are as much about improving backhaul to its more profitable mobile network as they are about bringing wired Internet to people's homes. "We will create a single fiber-optic network platform capable of supporting wireless and wireline technologies and multiple products," McAdam said. When asked which cities Verizon might build fiber in, McAdam said, "We have a stronger position in the Washington to Boston corridor" and "can move to market more quickly" there. But the geographical footprint isn't a "boundary," McAdam said, pointing to San Francisco (CA), where Verizon doesn't offer fiber-to-the-home service but deployed fiber and small cells to boost its wireless coverage for the Super Bowl.
benton.org/headlines/verizon-talking-cities-about-fiber-expansion-after-years-stagnation | Ars Technica
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ELECTIONS 2016
DONALD TRUMP CALLS ON RUSSIA TO FIND HILLARY CLINTON'S MISSING EMAILS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ashley Parker]
Donald Trump said that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton’s e-mail, essentially encouraging an adversarial foreign power to cyberspy on a secretary of state’s correspondence. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing,” Trump said, staring directly into the cameras during a news conference. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” Trump’s call was an extraordinary moment at a time when Russia is being accused of meddling in the United States’ presidential election. His comments came amid questions about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers, which American intelligence agencies have told the White House they have “high confidence” was the work of the Russian government. Later in the news conference, when asked if he was really urging a foreign nation to hack into the private e-mail server of Clinton, or at least meddle in the nation’s elections, he dismissed the question. “That’s up to the president,” Trump said, before finally saying “be quiet” to the female questioner. “Let the president talk to them.” The Clinton campaign immediately accused Trump of both encouraging Russian espionage against the United States and meddling in domestic politics.
benton.org/headlines/donald-trump-calls-russia-find-hillary-clintons-missing-emails | New York Times | The Guardian | Washington Post
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DEMOCRATS IGNORED CYBERSECURITY WARNINGS BEFORE THEFT
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Michael Riley]
The Democratic National Committee was warned in the fall of 2015 that its computer network was susceptible to attacks but didn’t follow the security advice it was given, apparently. The missed opportunity is another blow to party officials already embarrassed by the theft and public disclosure of e-mails that have disrupted their presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia (PA) and led their chairwoman to resign. Computer security consultants hired by the DNC made dozens of recommendations after a two-month review, apparently. Following the advice, which would typically include having specialists hunt for intruders on the network, might have alerted party officials that hackers had been lurking in their network for weeks -- hackers who would stay for nearly a year. Instead, officials didn’t discover the breach until April. The theft ultimately led to the release of almost 20,000 internal e-mails through WikiLeaks on the eve of the convention.
benton.org/headlines/democrats-ignored-cybersecurity-warnings-theft | Bloomberg
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TECH PLATFORM
[SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Karl Grindal, Jeff Landale]
[Commentary] The 2016 Democratic Party Platform fails to offer meaningful improvements to national tech policy that would improve cybersecurity. Americans deserve a plan that would strengthen networks, bolster security, and safeguard civil liberties. Progressive and tech advocates must begin to engage cybersecurity policy in earnest. Without policy experts capable of translating progressive ideals into digital policies, laws will continue to be crafted by those who view the internet as a space to surveil, and a domain of war, and not as a space for the overcoming of barriers, growing commerce, and spreading humanity's best ideals.
[Karl Grindal and Jeff Landale work at X-Lab]
benton.org/headlines/better-tech-platform-hillary-clinton | Christian Science Monitor
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
HOW DNC, CLINTON CAMPAIGN ATTACKS FIT INTO RUSSIA'S CYBER-WAR STRATEGY
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Sean Gallagher]
The well-timed leak of e-mails from the Democratic National Committee, following a long-running breach of the DNC's network, is a masterful piece of information warfare. The leak may only be the beginning of an effort to shape the US presidential election, or it may be a backup plan triggered by the exposure of the long-running breach. But the hacking of the DNC and the direct targeting of Hillary Clinton are only parts of a much larger operation by Russia-based hackers who have breached a number of US government networks. At a minimum, this suggests that the DNC breach was part of a larger intelligence collection operation. The leaked data from the DNC breach, however, may have been intended to create chaos and uncertainty around the election. But why would the Russian government open that can of worms? It's possible that this fits into a larger Russian strategy aimed at splintering NATO and countering what Russia has seen over the past decade as encroachment by the West on Russia's national interests. This sort of activity fits well into a larger picture of Russian state-sponsored and state-aligned information operations, including destructive cyber-attacks and intelligence collection. And the forensic evidence from the DNC breach fits right in with other recent operations by Russian hackers against US targets.
benton.org/headlines/how-dnc-clinton-campaign-attacks-fit-russias-cyber-war-strategy | Ars Technica
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