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January 2017

Remarks of Chairman Ajit Pai at FCC

As I enter this new position, I want you to know that I value and respect each and every one of you. I may now have the fancy title of Chairman (although I urge you to call me Ajit), but the credit for our work primarily belongs to you...

One of the most significant things that I’ve seen during my time here is that there is a digital divide in this country—between those who can use from cutting-edge communications services and those who do not. I believe one of our core priorities going forward should be to close that divide—to do what’s necessary to help the private sector build networks, send signals, and distribute information to American consumers, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or anything else. We must work to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans.

FCC Chairman Pai Appoints Bureau and Office Chiefs

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced the appointment of Commission bureau and office chiefs. The following are new appointments:
Michelle Carey, Acting Chief of the Media Bureau.
Michael Carowitz, Acting Chief of the Enforcement Bureau.
Lisa Fowlkes, Acting Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.
Nese Guendelsberger, Acting Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
Kris Monteith, Acting Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau.
Tom Sullivan, Acting Chief of the International Bureau.
Wayne A. Leighton, Acting Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis.
Timothy Strachan, Acting Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs.

Agenda for January 2017 FCC Open Meeting

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Tuesday, January 31, 2017.
Revisions to Public Inspection File Requirements – Broadcaster Correspondence File and Cable Principal Headend Location (MB Docket No. 16-161): The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would eliminate the requirement that commercial broadcast stations retain copies of letters and emails from the public in their public inspection file and the requirement that cable operators retain the location of the cable system’s principal headend in their public inspection file.

Chairman Pai Statement on House Telecom Bills

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement on telecommunications-related legislation passed by the US House of Representatives Jan 24: “I want to commend the US House of Representatives for passing a number of important, bipartisan telecom bills yesterday. These bills will help bring greater efficiency to the Commission, provide consumers with greater protections, improve rural call completion, help amateur radio operators, and take several steps to promote public safety. In particular, I am heartened to see that Kari’s Law is one step closer to becoming the law of the land. We all owe Kari’s father, Hank Hunt, a debt of gratitude for his decision to press forward and help ensure that every call to 911 goes through. I look forward to working with Congress on these and other important issues as Chairman of the FCC.”

Google Privacy-Policy Change Faces New Scrutiny in EU

Software giant Oracle said it briefed European regulators late in 2016 on recent changes to Google’s privacy policies in hopes of compounding its rival’s already complicated regulatory challenges. In June, Google asked users to accept a new privacy policy that allowed it to combine their browsing and search data, giving the company more robust profiles of its users. Oracle said it told antitrust regulators that the policy change will make it harder for other companies to compete by enabling Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., to even more accurately target ads to users. Privacy advocates have also complained to US regulators. “‘Super profiles’ now a reality,” reads a headline on one slide of a presentation that Oracle provided to regulators. “Policy change gives Google, exclusive, unprecedented insight into users’ lives.” An EU official confirmed regulators had been briefed by Oracle on the privacy-policychange and said they were taking the allegations “seriously.”

Five ways the media bungled the election

[Commentary] Whether you think the election of Donald Trump is the nadir of modern American politics and the end of America as we know it, or a revolt of the masses that was long overdue, just about everyone agrees that the media’s election coverage failed staggeringly. Reform begins by examining some of the major transgressions the media committed. And, futile or not, there are some potential correctives should they be so inclined to perform more responsibly in 2020.
1) They turned the election into a sporting event.
2) They blew the numbers.
3) They cast a pall of negativity over the entire campaign.
4) The neglected policy.
5) They failed to discriminate between the values of the candidates.

Most Americans, rightfully I think, feel the press has failed them. It can only make amends by reforming itself, and it can only reform itself by rethinking itself. Its survival may be at stake, but, to the extent that a vital press is essential to a vigorous society, so may be the survival of our democracy.

[Neal Gabler is a Senior Fellow at the Lear Center for the Study of Entertainment and Society at USC]

Sean Spicer just keeps killing his credibility

White House Spokesman Sean Spicer should have listened to Ari Fleischer. After Spicer's flagrant misstatement of Inauguration Day crowd figures over the weekend, Fleischer — a former White House press secretary trying to help the current one — offered some free advice. “As soon as a press secretary gets into statistics and facts, the press is going to fact-check the press secretary,” Fleischer said. “So don't use a fact, don't use a stat, unless you're 100 percent certain you've got it nailed down.” But, Spicer stood before reporters on Jan 24 and delivered this whopper, in defense of President Trump's bogus claim that massive voter fraud cost him the popular vote in November: “I think there's been studies. There was one that came out of Pew [in] 2008 that showed 14 percent of people who have voted were not citizens.”

It is hard to overstate what a brazen lie this was. I say “lie” — a loaded word that suggests Spicer knew he was telling a falsehood — because it is inconceivable that he believed it to be true. Trump has mischaracterized Pew's research on more than one occasion, and fact-checkers have crushed him for it. There is no way that Spicer, whose job requires him to obsess over media coverage, did not know that this absurd claim has been debunked.

Thousands of people are using bots to track the Trump administration

Tens of thousands of people are signing up for automated alerts on what is usually a dull affair: the intricate mechanics of government. IFTTT—”If this then that”—is a platform that lets non-programmers create and customize internet services, for example, automatically tweeting “Happy New Year!” every Jan 1. Now, more than 40,000 of the platform’s users are using simple bot-like programs called “applets” to track the Trump administration.

Users can get an email every time President Trump signs a new bill into law, for example, or have bills that are scheduled for a vote automatically added to their calendars. The number of IFTTT users tracking the government has risen dramatically since Trump’s victory in November, to more than 40,000 from 30,000 ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

Home Internet data caps and overage fees expand to more US cities

Cox is continuing the trend of bringing data caps and overage fees to customers in new cities. Cox, the third largest cable company in the US after Comcast and Charter, has 6 million residential and business customers in 18 states. Much like Comcast, it has instituted a 1TB (1,024GB) monthly data cap and charges $10 for each additional 50GB block of data. Also like Comcast, Cox has been bringing the overage fees to a few cities at a time instead of deploying them to its entire territory all at once.

Cox brought the data caps first to Cleveland (OH) and then to Florida and Georgia in October 2016. This week, Cox expanded the overage fees to Arkansas; Connecticut; Kansas; Omaha, Nebraska; Iowa; and Sun Valley (ID). Customers can get data usage alerts from a browser, e-mail, text message, or automated phone call when they hit 85 percent, 100 percent, and 125 percent of their monthly data plans.

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