January 2017

TRANSITION

TRUMP’S TECH TEAM
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Harper Neidig, Ali Breland]
Here are five of the biggest players to watch on technology:
Peter Thiel, one of the co-founders of PayPal, was arguably the sole top Silicon Valley executive to have publicly backed Trump during the campaign. He is also reportedly considering a run for governor in California in 2018, in a race that may pit him against another billionaire, the Democratic environmentalist Tom Steyer.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) will oversee the confirmation process for Trump’s nominees to the Federal Communications Commission and will likely have a say in who is selected to chair the commission. Some of Thune’s legislative priorities could get more traction under the Trump administration, including sharing government-owned wireless spectrum with the private sector, rewriting the Communications Act and expanding broadband access to rural communities.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai is widely seen as Tom Wheeler’s likely successor as chairman of the FCC. As chairman, Pai will get to set the FCC’s agenda and potentially reverse policies imposed under Wheeler, including net neutrality. Pai has already expressed interest in reevaluating the rules as soon as possible.
House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is an outspoken opponent of the net neutrality rules enshrined in the FCC’s Open Internet Order.
The Trump transition’s FCC landing team will be in charge of setting the agenda and recommending hires for the new administration when it takes over the agency. The group consists of three scholars from the conservative American Enterprise Institute: Roslyn Layton, Mark Jamison and Jeffrey Eisenach, as well as David Morken, the founder of Republic Wireless and Bandwidth.com. Layton, Jamison and Eisenach are all critics of net neutrality and are generally seen as traditional conservatives when it comes to telecommunications policy.
benton.org/headlines/five-key-players-trump-tech | Hill, The
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COMMERCE DEPT NOMINEE ROSS
[SOURCE: Morning Consult, AUTHOR: Amir Nasr]
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, touching on tech subjects ranging from wireless spectrum to broadband deployment. The Commerce Department has broad responsibilities in the tech field, including jurisdiction over the federal government’s airwaves, the US Patent and Trademark Office and national science labs. Most notably, Ross said he would push to get government agencies to free up unused spectrum, a longstanding goal of Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD). “We need more spectrum in the private sector, and I will try my best to help convince those government agencies that have spectrum and don’t really need it to permit it to be commercialized,” he told the committee. Ross also said he would work to balance privacy protections and data protectionism in data-transfer agreements such as the EU-US Privacy Shield pact. Later, he said there would need to be a balance between national security and freeing up airwaves. He also said government airwaves could “help extend broadband to more rural communities and other segments that are underserved.” Transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority will remain in place, Ross said. “As I understand it, there is no real alternative on the table to the ICANN situation. So, for the moment, there’s nothing else to consider,” Ross said. Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX), who was opposed to the transfer of power, pressed Ross further on the issue. Ross said that if he found “a realistic alternative,” he would explore it.
benton.org/headlines/what-commerce-dept-nominee-ross-said-about-tech-policy-during-confirmation-hearing | Morning Consult | nextgov
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TOM WHEELER
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Once pilloried by consumer advocates and comedian John Oliver as a shill for big business, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler took many by surprise as he brought challenge after challenge to the dominance of the companies he once represented. “I have always been the insurgent versus the incumbent,” he said. Welcoming the votes of his Republican colleagues when it was politically convenient, forging ahead unilaterally when it wasn't, Chairman Wheeler sought to turn a staid federal office better known for policing celebrity wardrobe malfunctions and distributing airwave licenses into a consumer protection agency that would shape U.S. companies and technologies of the future. But now a dark cloud looms over Wheeler's legacy as Republicans — led by President-elect Donald Trump — prepare to undo some of the most significant regulations approved under his watch. No policy inspires as much fury among technologically minded Republicans as net neutrality, a signature FCC initiative that turned Internet service into a kind of 21st-century utility. Subjecting Internet providers to the same obligations that traditional phone companies must meet, Wheeler's decision to ram the policy through over conservative objections led to intense outrage from his political opponents. A federal court upheld the rules in the face of an industry lawsuit, appearing to settle the matter once and for all.
benton.org/headlines/how-onetime-ally-comcast-and-att-turned-tables-industry | Washington Post
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EXIT INTERVIEW WITH CHAIRMAN WHEELER
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
A Q&A with outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler.
Asked, "What would you say were your biggest accomplishments and, by contrast, your biggest defeats or setbacks?" Chairman Wheeler replied, "I'm really proud of what we did on net neutrality. I'm proud about what we did on privacy. I'm proud of what we did on cybersecurity. I'm proud of what we did on E-Rate. I'm proud of what we did on Lifeline. There are a lot of things I look back on with pride, and smile. I mean, we were the first to have spectrum for 5G in the world. We expanded the rural broadband program. I mean, I'm proud, when I look back on it." Asked, "What are you going to do now? Do you see yourself staying in tech policy?" Chairman Wheeler replied, "I'm a network guy. I've spent the last 40 years of my life in new and evolving networks. I don't think the cat can change his stripes. I'm going to go to the Aspen Institute and decompress for about three months. I don't intend to go crawl under a rock someplace."
benton.org/headlines/i-dont-intend-go-crawl-under-rock-exit-interview-fcc-chairman-tom-wheeler | Washington Post
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AGENDA

MARKUP SESSION
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Senate Commerce Committee will hold an executive session on Tuesday, January 24th at 10:00 am to formally adopt the rules and budget resolution for the 115th Congress and consider legislative measures including the following telecommunications-related bills.
S. 19, MOBILE Now Act, Sponsors: Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Bill Nelson (D-FL)
S. 81, Senior Fraud Prevention Act of 2017, Sponsors: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Susan Collins (R-Maine)
S. 88, Developing Innovation and Growing the Internet of Things (DIGIT) Act, Sponsors: Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)
S. 96, Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act, Sponsors: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Thune (R-SD), Jon Tester (D-MT)
S. 102, Securing Access to Networks in Disasters (SANDY) Act, Sponsors: Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Bill Nelson (D-FL)
S. 123, Kari’s Law Act, Sponsors: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), John Cornyn (R-TX), John Thune (R-SD), Ted Cruz (R-TX)
S. 134, Spoofing Prevention Act, Sponsors: Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Roy Blunt (R-MO)
S.174, Federal Communications Commission Consolidated Reporting Act, Sponsors: Sens. Dean Heller (R-NV), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)
benton.org/headlines/full-agenda-senate-commerce-committee-markup-jan-24 | US Senate Commerce Committee
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ELECTIONS & MEDIA

TRUMP, CLINTON VOTERS DIVIDED IN THEIR MAIN SOURCE FOR ELECTION NEWS
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center Journalism and Media, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Gottfried, Michael Barthel, Amy Mitchell]
According to a new Pew Research Center survey, Americans who say they voted for Donald Trump in the general election relied heavily on Fox News as their main source of election news leading up to the 2016 election, whereas Hillary Clinton voters named an array of different sources, with no one source named by more than one-in-five of her supporters. The survey was conducted Nov. 29-Dec. 12, 2016, among 4,183 adults who are members of Pew Research Center’s nationally representative American Trends Panel. When voters were asked to write in their “main source” for election news, four-in-ten Trump voters named Fox News. The next most-common main source among Trump voters, CNN, was named by only 8% of his voters. Clinton voters, however, did not coalesce around any one source. CNN was named more than any other, but at 18% had nowhere near the dominance that Fox News had among Trump voters. Instead, the choices of Clinton voters were more spread out. MSNBC, Facebook, local television news, NPR, ABC, The New York Times and CBS were all named by between 5% and 9% of her voters. What’s more, though Fox News tops the list of sources among Trump voters, only 3% of Clinton voters named it as their main source.
benton.org/headlines/trump-clinton-voters-divided-their-main-source-election-news | Pew Research Center Journalism and Media
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SOPA/PIPA

FIVER YEARS LATER, SOPA AND PIPA
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Timothy Karr]
Five years ago today, millions of people came together to shock Washington into action on behalf of the public. Jan 18, 2012 was a day of mass protests against legislation that would have undermined the free and open exchange of information online. The lobbyist-fueled SOPA and PIPA bills were designed to shut down massive tracts of internet content without due process or accountability. The Washington consensus was that this legislation’s passage was a foregone conclusion. But on Jan 18, we stopped the inevitable. Fifty thousand websites — including Google, Wikipedia and Reddit — symbolically “blacked out” their webpages to protest the legislation. Nearly 10 million people took action online or by phone, urging Congress to ditch the bill. By the end of the day, dozens of senators had come forward to oppose PIPA. The House version, SOPA, had already been put on hold after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi bent to public pressure and tweeted that they “need[ed] to find a better solution.” A Senate staffer at the time said that “phones were melting” across Capitol Hill. However important the SOPA/PIPA victory was in 2012, its lasting significance depends on how well the internet-freedom coalition holds together in the fights that lie ahead. Whatever form these new threats take, millions of people must remain united and ready to act.
benton.org/headlines/five-years-later-sopa-and-pipa-serve-warning-trump-administration | Free Press
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

WHEELER: SUCCESSFUL SPECTRUM AUCTION IS ASSURED
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The successful completion of the final stage rule was a going-away present of sorts for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, who exits Jan 20. Chairman Wheeler took a bow for the entire FCC team, past and present, in a statement following the announcement that the auction would close after the current stage. “The word’s first spectrum incentive auction has delivered on its ambitious promise. Reaching the Final Stage Rule means the benefits of the auction are indisputable. We will repurpose 70 MHz of high-value, completely clear low-band spectrum for mobile broadband on a nationwide basis," Chairman Wheeler said. "On top of that, 14 MHz of new unlicensed spectrum – the test bed for wireless innovation – will be available for consumer devices and new services. The auction will provide $10.05 billion to broadcast television licensees who participated and billions towards deficit reduction. “There is still a long road ahead to successfully implement the post-auction transition of broadcast stations to their new channels and bring the new wireless and unlicensed spectrum to market. This will be an extremely important task for my successor and the new Commission; I wish them well," he said. The fact that the FCC had to reduce its spectrum clearing target from 126 MHz to 84 Mhz will mean less money for broadcasters and less spectrum for wireless operators, but it will make that repack easier given that there is much more room to repack TV stations in, which means not TV stations will be repacked into the duplex gap (between wireless uplink or downlink spectrum, or in the wireless band at all.
benton.org/headlines/chairman-wheeler-successful-spectrum-auction-assured | Multichannel News
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

RURAL COMMUNITIES LEFT IN THE DIGITAL DUST
[SOURCE: Schools Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition, AUTHOR: Press release]
Rural areas have been left in the dust when it comes to staying up to speed in the digital age. Thirty-nine percent of rural Americans and 41 percent of tribal lands lack access to basic 25 Mpbs broadband service. Compare those numbers to only 4 percent of urban residents. To address this rural/urban digital divide, we recently hosted a webinar on “Partnerships and Rural Broadband Needs”. We have also crafted the Rural American Broadband Connectivity (Rural ABC) Program for the Trump Administration. With rumors of an infrastructure bill in the works, the School Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition is preparing to participate actively in these debates. Please let us know if you would like to join our Coalition and support our advocacy for open, affordable, high-capacity broadband for anchor institutions and their communities. Together we can bring our rural communities up to speed.
benton.org/headlines/rural-communities-left-digital-dust | Schools Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition
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NETFLIX AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take the Oval Office, one high-profile tech issue that many analysts are watching is network neutrality. Republicans are widely expected to seek changes to the rules, which currently bar Internet providers from slowing down websites they don't like or speeding up others in exchange for payment. But one staunch backer of the rules isn't too worried about the impending rollback, and that's Netflix. It believes it's become so big that any changes to the net neutrality rules aren't likely to affect its business much at all. “Weakening of US Net neutrality laws, should that occur, is unlikely to materially affect our domestic margins or service quality because we are now popular enough with consumers to keep our relationships with ISPs stable,” the company wrote. “We hope the new U.S. administration and Congress will recognize that keeping the network neutral drives job growth and innovation,” the letter reads. “It's understandable that people describe this as Comcast versus Netflix,” said Matt Wood, policy director of the consumer group Free Press. But, he said, “We [are] concerned about the next innovative company that doesn't have the ability to buy itself out of trouble.”
benton.org/headlines/why-netflix-isnt-worried-about-gop-plans-weaken-network-neutrality | Washington Post
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SECURITY/PRIVACY

ISPS SEEK END OF PRIVACY RULES
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
New privacy rules that protect the Web browsing data of broadband subscribers went into effect just two weeks ago, but they could be overturned shortly after Republicans gain a majority at the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC voted on the rules on Oct 27, and they partially took effect on Jan 3. Also on Jan 3, trade groups representing Internet service providers filed petitions asking the FCC to reconsider the rulemaking, said an FCC public notice issued Jan 17. Normally, these petitions for reconsideration would be rejected by the FCC, and ISPs' next option would be to sue. But in this case, the privacy rules were passed 3-2, with three Democrats voting for the rules and two Republicans voting against them. Those two Republicans, Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly, will enjoy a 2-1 majority after President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration Jan 20. Once the public notice is published in the Federal Register, supporters of the privacy rules will have 15 days to file oppositions to the petitions for reconsideration. After that, there will be another 10 days allotted for replies to oppositions. Commissioners Pai and O'Rielly will presumably then get the process for overturning the rules moving. Even if the FCC does eliminate the privacy rules in response to the petition for reconsideration, that action could be appealed in court by supporters of the privacy rules.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/01/republican-led-fcc-will-quick...
Petitions for Reconsideration of Action in Rulemaking Proceeding (FCC Public Notice)
benton.org/headlines/isps-seek-end-privacy-rules-just-time-trumps-inauguration | Ars Technica | FCC Public Notice
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OWNERSHIP

TRUMP: I HAVEN'T SEEN ANY OF THE FACT ON ATT-TIME WARNER MERGER
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Harper Neidig]
President-elect Donald Trump signaled a willingness to change his stance against the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger, saying in an interview that he has not “seen any of the facts.” "I have been on the record in the past of saying it's too big and we have to keep competition,” he said. “So, but other than that, I haven't, you know, I haven't seen any of the facts, yet. I'm sure that will be presented to me and to the people within government." In a campaign speech in October, Trump said unequivocally that he would oppose the $85.4 billion deal because it would give more power to the mainstream media. "As an example of the power structure I'm fighting, AT&T is buying Time Warner and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few," he said, adding later, "Deals like this destroy democracy." But now that Trump is set to take office, many in Washington whether he is open to softening his position on the merger.
benton.org/headlines/president-elect-trump-i-havent-seen-any-facts-att-time-warner-merger | Hill, The
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

APPS AND CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Farhad Manjoo]
There’s a new form of digital censorship sweeping the globe, and it could be the start of something devastating. In the last few weeks, the Chinese government compelled Apple to remove New York Times apps from the Chinese version of the App Store. Then the Russian government had Apple and Google pull the app for LinkedIn, the professional social network, after the network declined to relocate its data on Russian citizens to servers in that country. Finally, a Chinese regulator asked app stores operating in the country to register with the government, an apparent precursor to wider restrictions on app marketplaces. These moves may sound incremental, and perhaps not immediately alarming. China has been restricting the web forever, and Russia is no bastion of free speech. So what’s so dangerous about blocking apps? Here’s the thing: It’s a more effective form of censorship.
benton.org/headlines/clearing-out-app-stores-government-censorship-made-easier | New York Times
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January 2017

On Eve of Inauguration, Americans Expect Nation’s Deep Political Divisions to Persist

Gus Rossi Joins Public Knowledge to Bolster International Advocacy Efforts for Digital Rights

How Technology Is Giving Town Hall Meetings a Modern Twist

Margaret Sullivan: Forget Putin. Fox News and Trump is the biggest romance in politics.

Journalists should stop interviewing Kellyanne Conway

Weekly Digest

Chairman Wheeler’s Farewell Message (in Two Parts)

January 19, 2017 (President Obama's Last Day in Office)

Clearing Out the App Stores: Government Censorship Made Easier

Why Netflix isn’t worried about GOP plans to weaken network neutrality