January 2017

January 18, 2017 (Trump Meets With FCC Commissioner Pai)

Remarks by the President Honoring the World Series CHAMPION Chicago Cubs [links to White House, The]

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017

Today's Events

Social Media Jihad 2.0: Inside ISIS’ Global Recruitment and Incitement Campaign, New America -- https://www.benton.org/node/252815
Broadband Opportunity Council: Accomplishments and Outlook, NTIA -- https://www.benton.org/node/253027

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Commissioner Clyburn Statement on Small Business Exemption - press release
   City/county leaders cite digital inclusion, education as top priorities for libraries - ALA press release
   Video: How people in rural areas deal with bad or no internet [links to USAToday]
   Local Activism Is the Best Way to Preserve Net Neutrality [links to Benton summary]
   What's the Return on Investment on Local Broadband? [links to Benton summary]
   TDS Goes 50/50 with State to Expand Minnesota Rural Broadband [links to Benton summary]
   FCC Releases 19th Universal Service Monitoring Report - press release [links to Benton summary]
   Billions in Cross-Subsidies Could Bring Fiber Optic Broadband to Massachusetts Cities—But Remain Unchallenged [links to Huffington Post]

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   President Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence
   Tech workers to protest Palantir over Immigrant Tracking [links to Benton summary]
   Your research can help the FTC protect consumers - FTC blog [links to Benton summary]
   Empirical data on the privacy paradox - Brookings [links to Benton summary]
   5 easy ways to protect your smartphone [links to USAToday]
   Improving cybersecurity by respecting privacy [links to American Enterprise Institute]
   Devices sprout ears: What do Alexa and Siri mean for privacy? [links to Christian Science Monitor]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Low-power TV stations serving niches could cede airwaves to Wi-Fi [links to Benton summary]
   The Internet of Things Could Finally Get The Common Language It Needs [links to Fast Company]
   America’s 4G Carriers Are Bracing Themselves For Trump Inauguration Livestreams [links to Vice]

OWNERSHIP
   AT&T's Stephenson: CNN Spinoff Doesn't Make Sense
   FTC Charges Qualcomm With Monopolizing Key Semiconductor Device Used in Cell Phones - press release [links to Benton summary]
   Verizon mulling acquisition of big cable company [links to New York Post]

TELEVISION
Chairman Blackburn Takes Aim at FCC Noncom Disclosure Decision
Annual Assessment of the Status of Competition in the Market for the Delivery of Video Programming - FCC [links to Benton summary]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Linking Rural Public Safety over an Interoperable Broadband Network [links to FirstNet]

CONTENT
Op-Ed: Lawmakers, stop enabling higher ed’s assault on free speech [links to Hill, The]
Nielsen: Time Spent on Social Media Growing [links to Multichannel News]

JOURNALISM
   New York Times Study Calls for Rapid Change in Newsroom [links to Benton summary]
   NYT to cut budget and invest $5m to boost Trump coverage [links to Financial Times]
   Local Media Consortium vows to fight fake news, halt business with 'propaganda pushers' [links to USAToday]
   Open Letter: American Media Must Do Better in 2017 [links to Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting]
   Op-Ed: Media, don’t play Trump’s game of divide and conquer [links to Washington Post]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Ferguson-Themed Painting Removed From Capitol Tunnel [links to Morning Consult]

GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
FCC Seeks Comments on Terminating Certain Proceedings as Dormant - public notice [links to Benton summary]

POLICYMAKERS
Will Mark Zuckerberg Be Our Next President? [links to Benton summary]
Mikey Dickerson fixed Healthcare.gov. That was just the beginning [links to CNN]

COMPANY NEWS
Miriam Gottfried: Netflix should be able to meet subscriber targets, but investors may start demanding profits [links to Wall Street Journal]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
Inside the belly of Russia's 'propaganda machine': A visit to RT news channel [links to Christian Science Monitor]

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TRANSITION

WHEELER INTERVIEW
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Ted Johnson]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, who will depart the week of Jan 16, said that if the incoming Republican majority on the commission seeks to rollback his agenda, it will be “easier said than done.” In an interview with Variety, hours after he gave a speech at the Aspen Institute defending the FCC’s network neutrality rules, Chairman Wheeler said that moves to undo some of the actions taken in recent years will face public scrutiny. “The idea of taking things away that American consumers and American companies enjoy today is not the easiest thing in the world,” Chairman Wheeler said. “And there are processes in the Administrative Procedure Act that they have to follow in order to do this, and they have to withstand court scrutiny. That is easier said than done.” Having come from industry, Chairman Wheeler said that as chairman he came to a realization that, in meeting with lobbying and other groups, “everyone comes in here and talks about how their self-interest is synonymous with the public interest.” He added, “And you know, I used to do the same thing. My ‘aha’ moment was that the public interest was a pretty malleable concept. The public interest is determined by the old adage, ‘Where you stand depends on where you sit.’ And so, what I have tried to do is say, ‘OK, we need another standard.’ And I kept saying to myself, ‘What is it that is in the common good, as differentiated from the public interest?’ Because the common good is how you can serve the good of the most people the best way.”
benton.org/headlines/tom-wheeler-interview-fcc-chairman-says-rolling-back-agenda-will-be-easier-said-done | Variety
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TRUMP TEAM WANTS TO STRIP FCC OF CONSUMER PROTECTION POWERS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is reportedly pushing a proposal to strip the Federal Communications Commission of its role in overseeing competition and consumer protection. Harold Feld, senior VP of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, called this plan "a declaration of war on the most basic principles of universal service, consumer protection, competition, and public safety that have been the bipartisan core of the Communications Act for the last 80+ years." Feld argued that this proposal would "poison the well for any serious effort to update the Communications Act." Feld also worries about the impact on rural areas, which are given special protections in the Communications Act, he said. Feld said that the FCC itself has "considerable latitude" to limit its own enforcement actions "and to use rulemakings and forbearances to strip itself of authority," but it still has to meet the requirements of the federal Administrative Procedures Act. Moreover, the proposal to shift FCC competition and consumer protection authority to agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission would require the writing of extremely complicated legislation in Congress, he said. "This level of radical restructuring makes the 1996 [Communications Act update] look trivial," Feld said.
benton.org/headlines/trump-team-reportedly-wants-strip-fcc-consumer-protection-powers | Ars Technica
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TRUMP MEETS WITH PAI
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
President-elect Donald Trump met Jan 16 with Federal Communications Commission senior Republican commissioner Ajit Pai, according to transition and future White House spokesman Sean Spicer, who said it was the President-elect's last meeting of the day. Commissioner Pai is widely expected to be tapped as interim FCC chair when President-elect Trump becomes President Trump on Jan 20 and could be named permanent chair as well, though his fellow Republican commissioner Michael O'Rielly is also in the conversation. Trump also met with former Federal Trade Commission Republican member Joshua Wright.
benton.org/headlines/president-elect-trump-meets-fcc-commissioner-pai | Broadcasting&Cable
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

CLYBURN STATEMENT ON SMALL BUSINESS EXEMPTION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn]
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn of the Federal Communications Commission issued the following statement in response to the Commission’s failure to address the needs of small broadband providers:
“Nearly two years ago, in the lead up to the Commission’s adoption of the 2015 Open Internet Order, I fought hard to ensure that our nation’s smallest broadband service providers would be free from undue burden when it comes to enhancements to the FCC’s transparency rule. It pains me to report today, that not only have those enhancements gone into effect for all providers, but the Order which would have protected small providers from this enhanced requirement, failed to get adopted by this body. This means that now, even providers with just a handful of customers, must comply with every one of the enhancements to our transparency rules. I am extremely disappointed that the Commission did not reach consensus on extending the exemption pending resolution of a rulemaking on this issue. Over a month ago, I voted to establish commonsense protections for small service providers from these enhanced requirements: the only FCC Commissioner to do so. I acted then, and still today feel, that while increased transparency is desirable, we should never abandon our duty to ensure that regulatory benefits outweigh regulatory burdens, particularly when it comes to small businesses. This ‘flash cut’ is unfair to the smallest operators, the very ones who believed that our government would protect them from undue burdens. Today, we failed as a Commission, but I am hopeful we will rectify that failure soon."
benton.org/headlines/commissioner-clyburn-statement-small-business-exemption | Federal Communications Commission
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CITY LEADERS CITE DIGITAL INCLUSION AS TOP PRIORITIES FOR LIBRARIES
[SOURCE: American Library Association, AUTHOR: ]
Local government leaders envision public libraries as a key resource to support their communities’ education and digital inclusion goals while indicating interest in exploring new roles for libraries to address other community priorities, according to a recent survey conducted by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), in partnership with The Aspen Institute and the Public Library Association (PLA). The new report, Local Libraries Advancing Community Goals, 2016, highlights five community priorities, ranked high or very high, where local government leaders see libraries playing an important role:
access to high-speed Internet service (73 percent)
digital literacy (65 percent)
early childhood education (65 percent)
primary and secondary school attainment (59 percent)
civic engagement (45 percent)
The survey also finds three areas of opportunity for library and local government leaders to work together more closely: collaborating on community priorities, engaging in active information sharing and communication about community issues, and seeking additional funding sources to enable libraries to expand programming and services.
benton.org/headlines/citycounty-leaders-cite-digital-inclusion-education-top-priorities-libraries | American Library Association | read the report
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SECURITY/PRIVACY

OBAMA COMMUTES BULK OF CHELSEA MANNING'S SENTENCE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charlie Savage]
President Barack Obama largely commuted the remaining prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the army intelligence analyst convicted of an enormous 2010 leak that revealed American military and diplomatic activities across the world, disrupted the administration, and made WikiLeaks, the recipient of those disclosures, famous. The decision by President Obama rescued Manning, who twice tried to commit suicide in 2016, from an uncertain future as a transgender woman incarcerated at the male military prison at Fort Leavenworth (KS). She has been jailed for nearly seven years, and her 35-year sentence was by far the longest punishment ever imposed in the United States for a leak conviction. Now, under the terms of President Obama’s commutation announced by the White House, Manning is set to be freed on May 17 of 2017, rather than in 2045. In recent days, the White House had signaled that President Obama was seriously considering granting Manning’s commutation application, in contrast to a pardon application submitted on behalf of the other large-scale leaker of the era, Edward J. Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who disclosed archives of top secret surveillance files and is living as a fugitive in Russia. “Chelsea Manning is somebody who went through the military criminal justice process, was exposed to due process, was found guilty, was sentenced for her crimes, and she acknowledged wrongdoing,” said White House spokesman Joshua Earnest. “Mr. Snowden fled into the arms of an adversary, and has sought refuge in a country that most recently made a concerted effort to undermine confidence in our democracy.”
benton.org/headlines/president-obama-commutes-bulk-chelsea-mannings-sentence | New York Times | The Hill
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TELEVISION

BLACKBURN TAKES AIM AT FCC NONCOM DISCLOSURE DECISION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has introduced a bill that would require the Federal Communications Commission to roll-back a decision requiring board members of noncommercial broadcast outlets to provide ownership information to the commission, party of a larger decision on broadcast ownership disclosures. The bill has yet to get a name or bill number, but it has the outgoing Democratic FCC's number. It would require the FCC to revoke parts, but not all of an FCC decision, a targeted approach Congressional Republicans could use to tailor already-passed FCC regulations.The FCC Media Bureau recently denied a request by noncommercial broadcast groups to revisit its decision. A phalanx of noncommercial broadcasting entities asked the FCC to reconsider and reverse the January 2016 order that was billed as improving the data collected from broadcasters to help the commission analyze ownership and diversity issues.
benton.org/headlines/chairman-blackburn-takes-aim-fcc-noncom-disclosure-decision | Broadcasting&Cable | Press release | O'Rielly Statement
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OWNERSHIP

ATT CHAIR: CNN SPINOFF DOESN'T MAKE SENSE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Although AT&T and Time Warner have signaled they expect to bypass the Federal Communications Commission review of their proposed $108.7 billion merger—a review that would be triggered by the exchange of FCC licenses like those used to transmit CNN and HBO—AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson signaled a spin-off of CNN was not in the cards. "I don't know why we'd even talk about that," he said. "It doesn't seem relevant to approving a deal like this. What would be the competitive issue that you're remedying with spinning off CNN? There are not competitive issues with owning CNN." President-elect Donald Trump, who has been highly critical of CNN, has threatened to block the deal, leading some to see a spin-off as a way to ease the path to approval. But Stephenson said in the interview that he sees it as a "basic vertical merger" that will ultimately be approved.
benton.org/headlines/atts-stephenson-cnn-spinoff-doesnt-make-sense | Broadcasting&Cable
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January 2017

NDIA Webinar Set For Feb 7: "Digital Inclusion Data 101"

Brookings Event Feb 1: Agenda setting at the FCC and the FTC under the new administration

A chat with Center for Public Integrity's FOIA fighter

The US Postal Service Wants to Hunt Down Dark Web Criminals

Trump: CIA should not have played a part in spreading ‘fake news’ about him

Celebrating the SOPA/PIPA Win Anniversary

January 18, 2017 (Trump Meets With FCC Commissioner Pai)