July 2016

In my two and a half years as a Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, I have tried to make productive suggestions to improve the internal workings of the Commission. These efforts have never been an attempt to undermine the authority of the Chairman or the ability of the Commission majority, whoever they may be on a particular issue, to get items completed in a timely manner. Instead, this entire effort is about improving the efficiency of the Commission and increasing fairness and transparency with regard to a process that is questionable in some instances and downright objectionable in others.

The chart below outlines the 24 reform proposals that I have suggested, to date, in various blogs and Congressional testimony. Those proposals that have been adopted in whole or in part – all three of them – are in yellow. In all fairness, item number 17, pertaining to improving the circulation process, was only proposed a few weeks ago. To the extent that the public or practitioners before the Commission have additional suggestions to improve the Commission’s workings, I would be pleased to review and consider supporting them. I plan to continue to call out for the need to improve the functionality of this Commission to ensure every sound idea is given due consideration, and will add to this list as the process issues pile up.

Late on July 7, when sniper fire rang out across downtown Dallas (TX), a bystander, Michael Kevin Bautista, used his smartphone to stream the events in real time on Facebook Live. Within the hour, CNN was rebroadcasting the footage. The day before, Diamond Reynolds streamed on Facebook Live after local police in Falcon Heights (MN) shot her boyfriend, Philando Castile, ratcheting up a controversy surrounding how police officers treat African-Americans. The two real-time videos catapulted Facebook, in the span of 48 hours, into a spot as the prime forum for live events and breaking news. It is a position that the company has long jockeyed to be in as it seeks to keep its 1.65 billion members ever more engaged. Yet the brutal nature of the events that appeared on Facebook Live also put the company in a tricky situation.

Facebook is confronting complexities with live videos that it may not have anticipated just a few months ago, when the streaming service was dominated by lighter fare such as a Buzzfeed video of an exploding watermelon. Now Facebook must navigate when, if at all, to draw the line if a live video is too graphic, and weigh whether pulling such content is in the company’s best interests if the video is newsworthy.

There's a huge threat looming over the way people's data are protected right now — and Google is testing out a way to guard against it. The threat is a still-experimental technology called quantum computing, and Google announced that it was taking the first step toward protecting user's browsing data against it. The search giant is testing out a Web encryption method called "New Hope," which is designed to help fend off potential quantum attacks for a small number of Chrome browser users when they connect to Google's servers.

The first meeting of the World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee will be held on August 2, 2016; at 11:00 am in the Federal Communications Commission Meeting Room. A draft agenda of the meeting is attached. The Advisory Committee’s objective is to provide the FCC with advice, technical support and recommended proposals for the WRC-19. At its initial meeting, the Advisory Committee will consider formation of its Informal Working Groups (IWGs), assignment of WRC-19 agenda items to the IWGs, scheduling and other organizational matters. This meeting is open to the public.