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  2. February 2017

February 2017

Barring Reporters From Briefings: Does It Cross a Legal Line?

A ruling issued on Feb 27 by a federal judge in Manhattan, in a case brought by a freelance journalist without a lawyer, may interest the White House. The judge said that the New York Police Department may have violated the First Amendment by revoking the press credentials of the journalist, Jason B. Nicholas. The ruling was preliminary, and the Police Department said it had legitimate reasons for its actions. But Judge J. Paul Oetken’s decision was timely, following as it did the exclusion of several news organizations from a Feb 24 meeting.. “It has been held impermissible,” Judge Oetken wrote, “to exclude a single television news network from live coverage of mayoral candidates’ headquarters and to withhold White House press passes in a content-based or arbitrary fashion.”

Feb 24’s developments at the White House crossed that legal line, said Jameel Jaffer, the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “That was unconstitutional,” he said. “If you exclude reporters from briefings that they otherwise have a right to attend because you don’t like their reporting, then you have engaged in viewpoint discrimination.” Viewpoint discrimination by the government in a public forum is almost always unconstitutional.

FCC head Ajit Pai: You can thank me for carriers’ new unlimited data plans

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said his "light-touch" approach to regulation is already helping consumers in the form of unlimited smartphone data plans from major US carriers. And he predicted that getting rid of "utility-style regulation" over broadband providers will boost Internet access across the US.

There are, however, reasons to think that the FCC's zero-rating decision was not responsible for the new unlimited data offerings. For one thing, selling unlimited data harms the business case for paid data cap exemptions. If carriers don't limit the amount of data mobile customers can use each month, there's no reason for online content providers to pay the carriers for zero-rating. While data caps are hated by customers, they create a scarcity that can be monetized by carriers as long as the FCC allows paid zero-rating. Secondly, there were already unlimited data plans before Pai became chairman. T-Mobile USA introduced its "T-Mobile One" unlimited plan in August 2016, while Democrat Tom Wheeler was still FCC chairman and the FCC was pursuing its net neutrality investigation into zero-rating. Sprint was already selling unlimited data and so was AT&T (although AT&T's unlimited data was only available to DirecTV and U-verse TV customers).

Donald Trump's FCC Chairman Spreads More Alternative Facts About Net Neutrality

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai Ajit wants people to believe that he’s a champion for more open and affordable broadband. The actions he’s taken since becoming chairman last month show he’s anything but. Using the exact same kind of unilateral power plays he previously decried in other chairmen, he’s made it far more difficult for low-income families to take advantage of a program that makes broadband access more affordable. His only plan is floating tax breaks to companies for the networks they’re already building, even though he has no power to change tax law and even though these kinds of tax breaks would do nothing to make internet access more affordable.

Pai keeps repeating the utterly debunked claim that the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules are utility-style regulations that are hurting broadband deployment. This is false on the law and false on the facts. It ignores not just the actual language of the FCC order, which explicitly forbears from the bulk of Title II, but the actual impact that Title II reclassification has had on the market. Pai’s claim that Net Neutrality protections have created great uncertainty in the marketplace is a flat-out lie, as is his notion of flatlining investment by internet service providers. We long ago discredited these claims. Pai’s frequent charge that investment has declined is based on the claims made by one industry-paid analyst, who selectively edits the figures reported by some of these companies. But if you take account of the industry’s spending as a whole, you’ll see that broadband-industry investment was nearly 9 percent higher in the two years following the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order than it was in the two years prior. What’s more, these industry aggregate totals don’t tell the whole story. Individual companies large and small significantly increased their broadband-infrastructure investments following the rules’ adoption. Comcast, the nation’s largest ISP, has invested far more in the two years following the FCC's order as the company has rolled out the next generation of cable-modem service. Smaller providers like Cincinnati Bell have increased their investments in fiber-to-the-home technology. And all wireless carriers have invested in completing their 4G deployments and preparing for 5G. Reporters shouldn't let Trump's man at the FCC spread easily debunked falsehoods like these. Pai’s relentless spin and his inaccurate numbers beg the question: What else is Pai misleading us about? People need to take a moment to double check the alternative facts coming from this FCC chairman.

FCC Furthers Cooperation With Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman R.S. Sharma signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for cooperation between the two agencies. The nonbinding agreement sets out a framework for the mutually beneficial exchange of ideas through activities such as best practices sharing, bilateral workshops, and digital videoconferences.

To guide these efforts, the FCC and TRAI have determined topics of shared interest, including accelerating broadband deployment and aligning spectrum policy to meet increasing mobile broadband demand. Given the broader bilateral partnership between the United States and India, the FCC has long engaged with Indian counterparts on issues of telecommunication regulatory policy. The agreement reinforces the ongoing positive working relationship between the FCC and TRAI and identifies opportunities for further collaboration in an increasingly interconnected world.

Trump says 'sometimes it's the reverse' when asked about anti-Semitic incidents

President Donald Trump reportedly said "sometimes it's the reverse" when asked about the wave of recent anti-Semitic incidents across the country. Trump made the comments to a group of state attorneys general on Feb 28. "He just said, 'Sometimes it's the reverse, to make people — or to make others — look bad,' and he used the word 'reverse,' I would say two to three times in his comments," Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. "He did correctly say at the top that it was reprehensible." Shapiro said Trump would be speaking about the issue during his address to Congress on Feb 28. "I really don't know what he means, or why he said that,” Shapiro said, adding that he hopes the president will clarify the remark.

WH Names Cyber Adviser to Economic Council

A former technology counsel for the House Commerce Committee will be heading up technology and cybersecurity policy for the National Economic Council, the White House announced. Grace Koh’s official title will be special assistant to the president for technology, telecom and cybersecurity policy. Koh was previously a policy counsel for the cable company Cox, where she focused on video, data and broadband issues and represented Cox before the Federal Communications Commission and other federal agencies. Koh was one of 13 National Economic Council officials named by Director Gary Cohn. Other officials will focus on energy, infrastructure, health care and other topics.

Facebook to Telcos: Forget Hardware Empires—Let’s All Share

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona saw the further rise of a movement that seeks to upend the traditional telecommunication business model, encouraging telecom companies to build common infrastructure they all can share. Why build three networks when you can build one? Wouldn’t that be better for everyone, telcos and consumers alike? Wouldn’t you get a 5G signal sooner—and for less money? The chief mover is not a telco. Rather, it’s a company that has made a habit of putting its name, money, and power behind efforts to democratize the development of new technology: Facebook.

On Feb 27, Facebook announced collaborations with two different telcos in Uganda to lay about 480 miles of fiber in the northwest region of the African nation. The three companies plan to share this fiber with any other interested telco, distributing the internet to countless wireless towers and then on to an estimated 3 million people in the process. Facebook hopes the project can serve as a template for telcos looking to more quickly and efficiently deploy fiber to places that don’t already have it. “Where operators can come together and leverage common infrastructure, there is more flexibility, lower cost, and a better time to market,” says Faceboook vice president of engineering Jay Parikh. And ultimately, that means more people will use Facebook.

Public Knowledge: Infrastructure Plan Should Improve Broadband Availability & Affordability

Today, Public Knowledge sent a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) and Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL) urging Congress take steps to close the digital divide by promoting investments in broadband deployment and competitive, affordable broadband choices for consumers.

Chris Lewis said, “It is time for policy makers to get serious about solutions to close the digital divide and invest in connecting families to basic, affordable communications services. Consolidation and the status quo have failed to deliver the promise of broadband to all Americans. Congress must prioritize smart infrastructure policies that bring competitive choices, affordable connectivity, and economic opportunity to us all.”

OKlahoma AG's office confirms former Attorney General Scott Pruitt used private email for state business

The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office confirms former Attorney General Scott Pruitt used a private e-mail for state business. The information comes a week after it was first revealed the e-mails that appeared to be sent from Pruitt’s private e-mail account. The revelation is in direct conflict with Pruitt’s written and oral testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee during the confirmation process. Pruitt, who is now the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, told lawmakers he had never used private e-mail for state business.

Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ) asked Pruitt directly, “Have you ever conducted business using your personal e-mail accounts, nonofficial Oklahoma attorney general e-mail accounts, text messages, instant messenger, voicemails, or any other medium?” “I use only my official OAG [Office of the Attorney General] e-mail address and government-issued phone to conduct official business,” Pruitt replied.

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