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  2. January 2017

January 2017

President Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

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.”

Chairman Blackburn Takes Aim at FCC Noncom Disclosure Decision

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.

Your research can help the FTC protect consumers

As I finish my year as Federal Trade Commission Chief Technologist, I wanted to take one more opportunity to encourage researchers to conduct research relevant to consumer protection and share it with the FTC. In this blog post, I share some thoughts on research in nine areas that I believe would be useful to the FTC. At the end I provide information about how to get in touch with FTC staff to discuss research.

Privacy and Security: Privacy and security are important to the FTC’s consumer protection mission. Research that investigates how consumers value privacy, the way consumers balance privacy interests with other interests, how companies assess and manage security risks, and the way consumers are impacted by privacy and security breaches would provide valuable information.

Ads and marketing: The FTC regulates advertising and marketing practices to protect consumers from those that are unfair or deceptive. Research related to new advertising and marketing practices and research that provides insights into how advertising and marketing practices are used in new media would aid FTC staff.

Annual Assessment of the Status of Competition in the Market for the Delivery of Video Programming

This is the eighteenth report of the Federal Communications Commission to the United States Congress on the status of competition in the market for the delivery of video programming. In this Report, we focus on developments in the video marketplace in 2015. We categorize entities into one of three groups – multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), broadcast television stations, and online video distributors (OVDs). We describe the providers of delivered video programming in each group, summarize their business models and competitive strategies, and present selected operating and financial statistics.

Vice President-elect Pence promises ‘big’ infrastructure bill as he address gathering of mayors

Vice President-elect Mike Pence pledged that the incoming administration would work with Republican and Democratic mayors alike on priorities facing America’s cities, including passage of a “big” infrastructure bill.

Appearing before a gathering of the US Conference of Mayors in Washington, Pence relayed that he had told President-elect Donald Trump that he would be dropping by and that Trump offered this instruction: “Tell 'em we’re going to do an infrastructure bill, and it’s going to be big.” Trump has pledged to mobilize anywhere from half a trillion to a trillion dollars to upgrading the nation’s aging roads, bridges and transportation hubs. But rather than relying entirely on direct federal spending, the Trump plan could utilize an investment tax credit to spur private spending.

FTC Charges Qualcomm With Monopolizing Key Semiconductor Device Used in Cell Phones

The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in federal district court charging Qualcomm Inc. with using anticompetitive tactics to maintain its monopoly in the supply of a key semiconductor device used in cell phones and other consumer products. Qualcomm is the world’s dominant supplier of baseband processors – devices that manage cellular communications in mobile products. The FTC alleges that Qualcomm has used its dominant position as a supplier of certain baseband processors to impose onerous and anticompetitive supply and licensing terms on cell phone manufacturers and to weaken competitors. Qualcomm also holds patents that it has declared essential to industry standards that enable cellular connectivity. These standards were adopted by standard-setting organizations for the telecommunications industry, which include Qualcomm and many of its competitors. In exchange for having their patented technologies included in the standards, participants typically commit to license their patents on what are known as fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory, or “FRAND,” terms.

Tech leaders shouldn't succumb to a president-Trump bully pulpit

[Commentary] In a recent piece I wrote for Fast Company, I outlined my involvement with a council of independent tech influencers that helped shape President Bush’s tech agenda. In the article, I suggested some of the types of councils I believe President Trump needs to help him understand tech and, more importantly, use them to help develop a tech agenda of his own that would benefit his economic goals and get these companies to help support an agenda that moves our industry forward. I believe working with Trump in a civil, proactive manner should be the goal of every tech company, but not kowtowing to him because he bullied them into some action. The tech industry needs the resolve to stand up against any bully pulpit, and only do what is right for them to grow their market. Anything less than that won’t have a lasting impact on them or our industry.

[Tim Bajarin is the president of Creative Strategies Inc.]

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