BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
Today's Events
AGENDA
No Time To Waste - Michael Copps
President Trump To Cut Regulations By '75 Percent' — How Real Is That? [links to National Public Radio]
TRANSITION
President Trump taps net neutrality critic Ajit Pai to lead the FCC
Statement of Ajit Pai On Being Designated FCC Chairman by President Donald J. Trump - press release
New FCC boss seen as friend to business, not so much to consumers - analysis
Humble Pai one of the best-prepared FCC chairs in history - The Hill op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Should we want a bipartisan FCC? - AEI op-ed
What Silicon Valley can expect under Trump - analysis
Senate confirms Mike Pompeo as CIA director [links to Washington Post]
FTC's Ohlhausen: Agency Should Focus on Real Harms [links to Benton summary]
Public Knowledge Opposes Rep Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) Nomination for OMB Director - press release [links to Benton summary]
Spicer on protests: Trump has 'healthy respect for the First Amendment' [links to Hill, The]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATINOS
President Trump used his first official meeting with congressional leaders to repeat a lie that his nearly three-million popular vote loss was due to illegal ballots [links to New York Times]
Sean Spicer, Trump’s Press Secretary, Reboots His Relationship With the Press
Republicans on Capitol Hill are coming to the Trump administration’s defense after the new president declared he has a “running war with the media” [links to Hill, The]
Commentary: Trump, the Press and the Dictatorship of the Trolletariat [links to Wall Street Journal]
'Skype seats' to be added to White House press briefings
Newt Gingrich’s White House Press Briefing Plan [links to Benton summary]
How and why President Trump plans to throw the media into chaos [links to Washington Post]
In the Trump administration era of ‘alternative facts,’ what happens to government data? [links to Benton summary]
Police, public differ on key issues but align on others - Pew research [links to Benton summary]
What the Trump administration wants you know about civil rights and policing [links to Washington Post]
Benjamin Snyder: The US’s Stance on Surveillance Needs a Hard Reset [links to Medium]
The President’s New Smartphone [links to Technology Review]
For Civic Tech, Hope and Fear in the Age of Trump [links to Government Technology]
Hackers downloaded US government climate data and stored it on European servers as Trump was being inaugurated [links to Quartz]
Was Trump’s inauguration the most-streamed of all time? [links to Benton summary]
JOURNALISM
Trump’s disdain for the press has a silver lining - CJR op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Dear media: The Trump White House has total contempt for you. Time to react accordingly. - WaPo [links to Benton summary]
CJR: Don’t let Trump get away with ‘alternative facts’ [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
Bob Garfield: How To Instantly Repair the Media Economy [links to MediaPost]
The problem with BuzzFeed’s defense of publishing the Trump-Russia dossier [links to Washington Post]
Student journalists especially vulnerable to Trump’s press-as-enemy rhetoric [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
Axios aims to speak the language of the swamp [links to Benton summary]
ABC's David Muir lands first one-on-one interview with President Trump on Jan 25 [links to Politico]
New York Times editor Quentin Hardy is heading to Google [links to Vox]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
How Broadband Populists Are Pushing for Government-Run Internet One Step at a Time - ITIF analysis
How the Trump administration can promote a free global internet - The Hill op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Congestion on the Last Mile [links to Technology Academics Policy]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Track record? Staff report explores cross-device tracking - FTC press release [links to Benton summary]
Former EOBC director asks FCC to End Quiet Period [links to Benton summary]
Spectrum Forward Auction Inches Into Round 5 [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
Five States Are Considering Bills to Legalize the 'Right to Repair' Electronics [links to Vice]
Why It Takes So Damn Long to Connect to a Wi-Fi Network [links to Vice]
OWNERSHIP
President Trump signs order to withdraw from Trans-Pacific Partnership [links to Benton summary]
Four reasons why Hollywood supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership [links to Benton summary]
Sprint buys a Third of Jay Z's Tidal Streaming Serivce [links to Benton summary]
CONTENT
FTC challenges claims for smartphone breathalyzer pitched on “Shark Tank” [links to Federal Trade Commission]
Copyright Alliance Presses Trump on Protections [links to Benton summary]
How a concerned mother's lawsuit helped get Snapchat to crack down on media companies [links to Los Angeles Times]
ADVERTISING
Mossberg: Lousy ads are ruining the online experience [links to Vox]
TELEVISION
Meet the cord nevers, a subset of Millenials [links to MediaLife]
LABOR
Trump needs tech to achieve his vision. But Silicon Valley workers aren’t having it [links to Guardian, The]
The best of the best US jobs are tech, tech and tech, again [links to USAToday]
POLICYMAKERS
President Trump freezes hiring of federal workers [links to Washington Post]
LOBBYING
AT&T beefs up lobbying after merger proposal [links to Benton summary]
Uber tripled its lobbying efforts in 2016 [links to Hill, The]
COMPANY NEWS
Big Telecoms Keep Investors on Hold [links to Benton summary]
Yahoo Delays Its Sale to Verizon Until the Second Quarter [links to New York Times]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
China cracks down on VPNs, making it harder to circumvent Great Firewall [links to Guardian, The]
French internet censorship rose sharply in 2016 [links to Associated Press]
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AGENDA
NO TIME TO WASTE
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Michael Copps]
[Commentary] Word on the street is that the Trump Federal Communications Commission transition team has submitted its report to Administration higher-ups and that it has been largely or wholly accepted. What we know of its recommendations, which have not and may never be released as such, makes for awful news. It sounds like an always-on green light for more mergers and acquisitions than ever and for such a deregulatory approach that our media and telecommunications conglomerates will be encouraged to build out monopoly markets across the land. That means one-sixth of our economy will lack meaningful oversight to protect the common good, a.k.a. the public interest. Keep in mind that the transition report is mostly the product of inside-the-Beltway think tank “experts” working at the conservative, corporate-sponsored American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Likely it has also received the blessing of the even more conservative Heritage Foundation, whose leadership staunchly opposes almost everything promoting the common good. How strange that these inside, corporate-oriented elites are setting policy for all those voters in rural America and the Rust Belt who made the difference in Donald Trump’s Electoral College victory. Does anyone reading this really believe that those voters want higher cable bills and monopoly set-top boxes (averaging over $230 annually) even though the FCC has the power to open the market for much more affordable alternatives? Do all those good voters, hoping for something that represents real Populism, not Wall Street’s version, really want higher phone bills, more industry consolidation, second-rate broadband service, and an internet controlled by a handful of gatekeepers? I think not.
https://www.benton.org/blog/no-time-waste
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TRANSITION
TRUMP TAPS PAI TO LEAD FCC
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
President Trump has named Ajit Pai, an advocate of deregulation and a critic of the government's network neutrality rules, as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Pai's new position will give him control over the nation's most powerful telecommunication and cable regulator, with a 2-1 Republican majority that is widely expected to begin undoing some of the Obama era's most significant tech policies. The Indian-American who grew up in Kansas had until now been a sitting Republican commissioner at the FCC — meaning he will not need to be confirmed by the US Senate before serving as the agency's 34th chairman. Pai was a staunch critic of Democratic efforts aimed at breaking the dominance of some of America's biggest Internet providers, including AT&T, Comcast and Verizon.
benton.org/headlines/president-trump-taps-net-neutrality-critic-ajit-pai-lead-fcc | Washington Post | B&C | The Verge
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PAI STATEMENT ON CHAIRMANSHIP
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai]
I am deeply grateful to the President of the United States for designating me the 34th Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. I look forward to working with the new Administration, my colleagues at the Commission, members of Congress, and the American public to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans.
benton.org/headlines/statement-ajit-pai-being-designated-fcc-chairman-president-donald-j-trump | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: David Lazarus]
[Commentary] President Donald Trump named Ajit Pai to take over as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Chairman Pai, a Republican, has served on the five-member commission since 2012, and no one questions his smarts or his grasp of complex telecom issues. Unlike some other Trump appointees, this one knows his stuff. That said, Chairman Pai has a solid track record of favoring deregulation of phone, cable and broadband companies. It’s a sure bet he’ll adopt a more hands-off approach to overseeing the telecom industry than his Democratic predecessor, Tom Wheeler, who believed government regulators have an important role to play in consumer protection. “Pai is the anti-Wheeler,” said Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge. “Anything Wheeler tried to do, Pai would be the first to say it went too far.” For consumers, Feld said, a key change will be Chairman Pai renouncing Wheeler’s position that phone rules apply to broadband services — a stance that gave the FCC sweeping authority over high-speed Internet providers. It may sound wonky, but it’s a very big deal.
benton.org/headlines/new-fcc-boss-seen-friend-business-not-so-much-consumers | Los Angeles Times
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SHOULD WE WANT A BIPARTISAN FCC?
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Mark Jamison]
[Commentary] The short answer is, “No!” In an independent regulatory agency like the Federal Communications Commission, political alliances should be left at the door. That has not been the case the past few years and now is the time for change. Politics isn’t the only thing to blame for the wide swings in FCC regulatory decision-making. The agency has also lost its way. Originally designed to regulate monopoly telephone companies, oversee broadcasters who had exclusive rights, and manage scarce radio spectrum, the FCC’s authorizing statues are badly outdated, despite having been updated in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Now that competition is the norm, industry players seek to use the agency’s authority for ex ante regulations to hinder rivals, to the detriment of customers. A statutory change should direct the agency to focus on managing radio spectrum and, if needed, subsidies for broadband in rural, high cost areas where affordability is an issue. It should restrict the agency from engaging in ex ante regulation except in the case of actual monopoly, and when a rigorous cost-benefit analysis, followed up with evaluations, demonstrates that ex ante regulation improves outcomes for customers. Absent a statutory change, the commission itself can use its authority to forebear from regulation wherever there is competition and means test its subsidies.
[Mark Jamison is part of the FCC transition team for President Trump. He is the Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida]
benton.org/headlines/should-we-want-bipartisan-fcc | American Enterprise Institute
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WHAT SILICON VALLEY CAN EXPECT UNDER TRUMP
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: April Glaser]
Since the election, President Trump has named only a handful of appointments to serve his administration, making it difficult to grok what a Trump presidency means for many of the complex issues that are dear to Silicon Valley — like immigration, network neutrality, self-driving cars and surveillance. Here’s what we know:
Merger-friendly appointments: AT&T’s $85 billion bid for Time Warner is currently under review by the Justice Department. And despite what Trump said on the campaign trail against the proposed merger, the individuals Trump picked to oversee the DOJ transition have a history helping large, private companies get their way with US regulatory agencies.
Skilled worker visas: One thing Trump has been clear on is his determination to tighten US borders. But when it comes to H1B visas — the program for foreign nationals working in highly skilled jobs like computer science and engineering — Trump has been less direct.
Industry-friendly regulations for self-driving cars and the gig economy: Trump announced in December that he will nominate Elaine Chao, former chief of the Department of Labor under the Bush administration, to head the Department of Transportation. Though she has little experience with self-driving cars, at a confirmation hearing earlier this month Chao hinted that she’s in favor of a light regulatory agenda that won’t get in the way of continued tech development in the nascent industry.
More digital surveillance: Trump is coming into power at a time when the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, is stepping down. Whoever Trump picks to fill the position will likely echo the new president’s philosophy on surveillance, which many privacy advocates see as particularly onerous.
Network neutrality faces extinction: Trump’s reported pick for the FCC Chairmanship, Commissioner Ajit Pai, is expected to roll back the 2015 network neutrality rules, which were created to keep internet providers like Comcast and Verizon from charging websites like Netflix and Facebook an extra fee to reach internet users at faster speeds.
benton.org/headlines/what-silicon-valley-can-expect-under-trump | Vox
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
RELATIONSHIP REBOOT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Grynbaum]
The Trump White House sent a message to the media: Be nice. At his first formal briefing on Jan 23, Sean Spicer, the new White House press secretary, told reporters that the Administration sometimes does “the right thing,” adding: “And it would be nice, once in a while, for someone just to report it straight up.” It was an oddly plaintive appeal from an Administration that tends to attack the press, not bemoan it. And it was a sharp contrast from Spicer’s appearance 48 hours prior, when he blasted the news media as “shameful,” made false claims about the attendance for Trump’s inaugural and prompted speculation that his relationship with the White House press corps had been irreparably damaged after a single day.
benton.org/headlines/sean-spicer-trumps-press-secretary-reboots-his-relationship-press | New York Times
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SKYPE SEATS TO BE ADDED TO WH PRESS BRIEFINGS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Joe Concha]
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at his first press briefing that future briefings will include four "Skype seats" for reporters who are outside of the Washington (DC) area. Spicer did not specify how it would be decided which outlets would be brought in via Skype, the world's largest video call service owned by Microsoft. He did say those eligible for consideration need to live more than 50 miles from Washington. Spicer added that the technology would open up briefings to a “diverse group” of journalists who can’t afford to travel to DC. “Maybe we solicit talk radio and regional newspapers to submit questions — because they can't afford to be in Washington — but they still have a question," Spicer said in an interview Jan 8. "Maybe we just let the American people submit questions that we read off as well,” he added.
benton.org/headlines/skype-seats-be-added-white-house-press-briefings | Hill, The | B&C
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
BROADBAND POPULISTS
[SOURCE: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, AUTHOR: Robert Atkinson, Doug Brake]
To most observers of US broadband policy, the regular and increasingly heated debates in this area appear to be about an evolving set of discrete issues: net neutrality, broadband privacy, set-top box competition, usage-based pricing, mergers, municipal broadband, international rankings, and so on. As each issue emerges, the factions take their positions—companies fighting for their firms’ advantage, “public interest” groups working for more regulation, free market advocates working for less, and some moderate academics and think tanks taking more nuanced and varied positions. But at a higher level, these debates are about more than the specific issue at hand; they are subcomponents of a broader debate about the kind of broadband system America should have. One side wants to remain on the path that has brought America to where it is today: a lightly regulated industry made up of competing private companies relying on a variety of technologies. Another side, made up of mostly public interest groups and some liberal academics, rejects this, advocating instead for a heavily regulated, utility-like industry at minimum and ideally a government-owned system made up of municipal networks. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) firmly believes the former model—lightly regulated competition—is the superior one. But if we are to get broadband policy right going forward, it’s this broader strategic issue we need to identify and debate, not just narrow tactical matters. Broadband networks are a critical part of America’s digital technology system and, as such, the issue of how to continue to drive investment and innovation in these networks is worthy of robust and sustained debate. But the broadband policy debate should be transparent about what it really involves: Is America better off with an ISP industry that is structured the way the vast majority of the U.S. economy is structured (private-sector firms competing to provide the best product or service at a competitive price, with the role of government to limit abuse and support gaps where private-sector competition does not respond), or do we want to transform this largely successful industry model into either a regulated utility monopoly model or government-owned networks? As we ponder this question, policymakers need to understand what the debate is fundamentally about and what is at stake as broadband populists push for each one of their thousand cuts.
benton.org/headlines/how-broadband-populists-are-pushing-government-run-internet-one-step-time | Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
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