November 2016

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2016
Today's Events --

• Transforming Communities: Broadband Goals for 2017 and Beyond-- Next Century Cities, SHLB Coalitiion, US Ignite -- https://www.benton.org/node/250902
• The Digital Citizen Summit, Government Executive -- https://www.benton.org/node/250307

TRANSITION
   President-elect Trump taps another net neutrality critic for FCC transition
   Steven Mnuchin Is Donald Trump’s Expected Choice for Treasury Secretary
   President-elect Trump Picks Elaine Chao for Transportation Secretary
   Internet Archive putting database in Canada to keep it from President-elect Trump
   Beltway Buzzes with Potential Picks for FCC
   House Commerce Committee Chairman Expected to Be Picked Dec 2 [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
   Trump FCC can't repeal rules quickly, but can enforce how it wants - The Hill op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Media companies to lobby Trump for loosening of cross-ownership rules [links to Benton summary]
   Rethinking technology policy for the next half century - AEI op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) declared winner after reelection battle [links to Hill, The]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Libraries and Rural Broadband
   Close to Home: Joy Road plight is common in rural areas - The Press Democrat op-ed
   AT&T just declared war on an open internet (and us)
    See also: Five Takeaways From DirecTV Now Launch Unveiling [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
   Chairman Wheeler's Response to Sen Udall (D-NM) Regarding E-Rate Funding - [links to Benton summary]
   Chairman Wheeler's Response to Members of Congress Regarding Business Data Services [links to Federal Communications Commission]
   Next-Gen Data Center Upgrade Helps Durham, N.C., Lay Smart City Foundation [links to Government Technology]
   How U.S. Internet Commons Policies Lessen Growth Jobs & Security [links to Daily Caller, The]

ELECTIONS & MEDIA
   Judge rules against Center for Public Integrity in FEC cybersecurity lawsuit - press release [links to Benton summary]
   Election Day mobile notifications offer peek into future of news delivery [links to Columbia Journalism Review]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Donald Trump and social media have weaponized the conspiracy theory in American politics [links to Washington Post]
   The New Rules for Covering Trump - Politico analysis [links to Benton summary]
   Donald Trump is going to war with CNN. Again. [links to Benton summary]
   Stanford, The White House, And Tech Bigwigs Will Host A Summit On Poverty [links to BuzzFeed]
   Donald Trump v. the First Amendment, part five [links to Washington Post]
   Are Alternative Inspection FCC Notifications Still Needed? [links to CommLawBlog]

JOURNALISM
   News Outlets Rethink Usage of the Term ‘Alt-Right’ [links to New York Times]
   The FAA banned journalists from flying drones at the Standing Rock oil pipeline protest [links to Vox]
   Revolution at The Washington Post [links to Columbia Journalism Review]

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
   Building Tools for Digital Activism - press release [links to Benton summary]

CONTENT
   Bipartisan Online Speech Bill, the Consumer Review Fairness Act, Passes
   Op-Ed: The Decline Of The Postal Service And The Rise Of Fake News [links to Huffington Post]
   Op-Ed: Facebook Shouldn’t Fact-Check [links to New York Times]
   'Fake news' isn't the problem — mainstream news with an agenda is - The Hill op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   Op-Ed: Fake News: The Relentless Pursuit of Mind Control [links to Huffington Post]
   Banned from Twitter? 'Gab' promises you can say whatever you want. [links to Washington Post]
   Cyber Monday set a U.S. e-commerce record with $3.45 billion in sales [links to Vox]

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   Fight Over FBI Hacking Powers Comes Down to the Wire [links to nextgov]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   FCC Plans Dec. 5 Start for Forward Auction [links to Benton summary]
   Mobile Broadband Forum: 4.5G WTTH Helping Accelerate Next Generation Fixed Wireless [links to Benton summary]

HEALTH
   Department of Justice Highlights Competitive Benefits of Telehealth Services [links to Department of Justice]

DIVERSITY
   As New York's Tech Scene Matures, Diversity Proves a Strength [links to Fast Company]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   Chairman Wheeler's Response to Senator Schumer Regarding Wireless Emergency Alert Proceeding [links to Federal Communications Commission]

COMPANY NEWS
   Inside Alphabet’s Jigsaw, the powerful tech incubator that could reshape geopolitics [links to Benton summary]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Orin Kerr: The surprising implications of the Microsoft/Ireland warrant case [links to Washington Post]
   Express Wifi: Facebook’s Latest Attempt to Connect India [links to AdWeek]
   How China is changing Hollywood [links to Vox]

back to top

TRUMP TRANSITION

TRUMP TAPS ANOTHER NET NEUTRALITY CRITIC FOR FCC TRANSITION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Ali Breland]
President-elect Donald Trump is tapping another critic of network neutrality to help with the transition at the Federal Communications Commission. The Trump transition team announced that Roslyn Layton will join the FCC landing team. Layton will work alongside Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison. Layton, like her two colleagues, has served as a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank. The three are all critics of the agency's controversial net neutrality rules. “The FCC's recent actions and the White House's intervention is inconsistent with a stable, evidence-based regulatory approach,” Layton wrote about net neutrality in a 2015 op-ed cowritten with Jamison. Layton went on to say that the FCC should focus on other matters. “The situation distracts the FCC from its mission-critical responsibilities, such as the upcoming incentive auction to get more spectrum in the marketplace and meet consumers’ increasing demand for wireless technologies.”
benton.org/headlines/president-elect-trump-taps-another-net-neutrality-critic-fcc-transition | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

STEVEN MNUCHIN IS TRUMP'S EXPECTED CHOICE FOR TREASURY SECRETARY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Binyamin Applebaum, Maggie Haberman]
Steven Terner Mnuchin, a financier with deep roots on Wall Street and in Hollywood but no government experience, is expected to be named President-elect Donald J. Trump’s Treasury secretary, apparently. Mnuchin, 53, was the national finance chairman for President-elect Trump’s campaign. He began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he became a partner, before creating his own hedge fund, moving to the West Coast and entering the first rank of movie financiers by bankrolling hits like the “X-Men” franchise and “Avatar.” As Treasury secretary, Mnuchin would play an important role in shaping the administration’s economic policies, including a package of promised tax cuts, increased spending on infrastructure and changes in the terms of foreign trade. He could also help lead any effort to roll back President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and opening to Cuba by reimposing sanctions on Tehran and Havana.
benton.org/headlines/steven-mnuchin-donald-trumps-expected-choice-treasury-secretary | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

TRUMP PICKS ELAINE CHAO FOR TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jeremy Peters, Maggie Haberman]
She is a woman and an immigrant, a fixture of the Republican establishment for two decades. She is a savvy and professional practitioner of the capital’s inside game. And now she is going to work for President-elect Donald J. Trump. Trump named Elaine L. Chao as his choice to be the next secretary of transportation, elevating someone whose background and experience are in many respects completely at odds with the brash and disruptive tenor of his anti-Washington campaign. His transportation secretary is likely to be one of the more essential players. President-elect Trump, a real estate magnate, has said that infrastructure redevelopment will be a priority of his first 100 days in office. And Chao has experience — politically and personally — in navigating the competing centers of power in the capital. She is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
benton.org/headlines/president-elect-trump-picks-elaine-chao-transportation-secretary | New York Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

BELTWAY BUZZES WITH POTENTIAL PICKS FOR FCC
[SOURCE: New York Post, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson]
Beltway buzz is now centered on who will replace Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, the former cable lobbyist who has been in the job for three years. On Dec 1, Chairman Wheeler will be feted in Washington, DC, by the Federal Communications Commission Bar Association as communications professionals and lobbyists will be dissecting his tenure and gossiping about his successor. Among the names being floated are Ajit Pai, the current Republican FCC commissioner; David Fellows, a former CTO at Comcast and AT&T and a co-founder of Layer 3 TV, a cable company in Denver (CO); and Jeffrey Eisenach, the Trump-appointed consultant named to the transition team, according to several FCC watchers. When asked for comment about the possible contenders, including the possibility that he might lead the federal body, Eisenach told The Post, “No comment. It wouldn’t be productive.”
benton.org/headlines/beltway-buzzes-potential-picks-fcc | New York Post
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

INTERNET ARCHIVE PUTTING DATABASE IN CANADA TO KEEP IT FROM TRUMP
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Ali Breland]
The Internet Archive, a nonprofit that saves copies of old web pages, is creating a backup of its database in Canada, in response to the election of Donald Trump. “On November 9th in America, we woke up to a new administration promising radical change,” the organization wrote. “It was a firm reminder that institutions like ours, built for the long-term, need to design for change.” The Internet Archive is responsible for services like the Wayback Machine, a tool that allows users to access cached versions of websites long after they are pulled from the Internet, and Open Library, which offers free access to millions of e-books. The move will cost millions, according to the Internet Archive, which is soliciting donations. In their post, the Internet Archive justified its decision to backup its data in Canada, claiming that Trump could threaten an open Internet. “For us, it means keeping our cultural materials safe, private and perpetually accessible. It means preparing for a Web that may face greater restrictions.”
benton.org/headlines/internet-archive-putting-database-canada-keep-it-president-elect-trump | Hill, The | Internet Archive blog post | ars technica
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

INTERNET/BROADBAND

LIBRARIES AND RURAL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Sharon Strover]
With just a little over 2,000 people in western Kansas’ Stanton County, you might be surprised there’s a library in the area. But the Stanton County Public Library is heavily used. If you went there after hours and looked on its outdoor patio, you might see people at the Anna Mae Lewis Outdoor Library using the Internet connectivity from the library’s network. As my team visited rural libraries in Kansas and Maine, we routinely saw parking lots and streets filled with patrons using Wi-Fi connections after hours. By some estimates, there are 4,078 rural libraries in the US and they’re important in more ways than you might expect. Going well beyond book lending, rural libraries support all sorts of educational programs, maker spaces, and social service meetings. They also have public access computers and most provide Wi-Fi access both inside and outside their buildings.
benton.org/headlines/libraries-and-rural-broadband | Benton Foundation
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

JOY ROAD PLIGHT IS COMMON IN RURAL AREAS
[SOURCE: The Press Democrat, AUTHOR: Tom West]
[Commentary] For most Californians, getting high-speed Internet at home takes about a week. You figure out which company provides broadband and at what cost, make an appointment for service installation and get connected. But in rural Sonoma County, that process has taken 500 residents along Joy Road four years — and the reasons have everything to do with the high cost of broadband infrastructure and the way telecom companies avoid providing high-speed Internet service in sparsely populated areas. Although the greater Joy Road area will soon get broadband, thanks to a $7.7 million infrastructure grant from the state Public Utilities Commission’s California Advanced Services Fund, the story of Sonoma County’s “Gigafy Occidental” project is typical of what rural residents face throughout the state. It is also an allegory about the need to subsidize high-speed Internet infrastructure in rural areas.
[Tom West is manager of the North Bay/North Coast Broadband Consortium.]
benton.org/headlines/close-home-joy-road-plight-common-rural-areas | Press Democrat, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

ATT JUST DECLARED WAR ON OPEN INTERNET (AND US)
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: TC Scottek]
Nov 28, AT&T made a dim prophecy official by announcing that its new DirecTV Now streaming service would be zero rated: it won’t count against its customers’ data caps. Zero rating isn’t new — T-Mobile has been writing the manual on how to get away with it — but now it’s finally happening at a scale that matters. And AT&T’s version is much worse than T-Mobile’s. AT&T’s zero rating model is pretty much the nightmare scenario that Internet advocates and pro-competition observers have been warning us about. That’s because AT&T owns DirecTV, and is now giving DirecTV Now privileged access to AT&T’s wireless Internet customers. The corruption is so obvious here that it doesn’t need a fancy network neutrality metaphor — AT&T is clearly favoring a company it now owns over competitors. And that’s just the beginning of where AT&T is screwing us. The company stands to reap massive tolls on the other end of that “most favored nation” deal with DirecTV, because it also offers something called “sponsored data” to other companies that want the same kind of privileged access to AT&T customers. So, for example, if Netflix wants to compete fairly with DirecTV, it would need to pay AT&T to exempt its video traffic from data caps. This is what Internet service providers really want the Internet to look like: a bundle of premium services that run up the cost of access to their networks.
benton.org/headlines/att-just-declared-war-open-internet-and-us | Verge, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top

CONTENT

CONSUMER REVIEW FAIRNESS ACT PASSES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan bill hailed as striking a blow for online free speech.The Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 (HR 5111) now heads to President Barack Obama's desk. The bill effectively disallows so-called "anti-disparagement clauses" that are meant to prevent negative online reviews by making them punishable by fines or promising lawsuits as part of those lengthy terms of service agreements that most people likely do not pore over before using an online service. The bill does not immunize online reviewers from civil actions for defamation, slander or libel or prevent any party's right to remove anything that is "false or misleading, harassing, abusive, obscene, vulgar, sexually explicit, inappropriate with respect to race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or other intrinsic characteristic," so it is not a flat prohibition and could contain some wiggle room in terms like "misleading" or "abusive."
benton.org/headlines/bipartisan-online-speech-bill-consumer-review-fairness-act-passes | Broadcasting&Cable
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top