February 2017

February 28, 2017 (Ward Chamberlin)

Ward Chamberlin Jr., Architect of Nation’s Public Broadcasting

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2017

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   A Constitutional Right to Facebook and Twitter? Supreme Court Weighs In
   Commissioner Clyburn vows to fight for network neutrality at rally
   Stop Treating Broadband Like a Utility - Multichannel News op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   Sen King Leads Letter Calling on FCC to Protect Broadband Funding for Rural Healthcare Clinics - press release
   USDA Helps Expand Broadband Service in Rural Illinois and Oklahoma - press release
   Rural broadband bills fail to advance in Colorado [links to Benton summary]

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   Commissioner O'Rielly Statement on Commission Consideration of Broadband Privacy Interim Stay Order
   Sen Markey Joins Public Interest Groups in Opposition to Congressional Plan to Kill Online Privacy
   Rep Pallone Seeks GAO Study of Broadband Privacy Oversight
   Internet of Things Teddy Bear Leaked 2 Million Parent and Kids Message Recordings [links to Vice]

OWNERSHIP
   FCC Chairman Says Doesn’t Expect Agency to Review AT&T-Time Warner Deal
   $1.1 Billion Windstream EarthLink Acquisition Completed [links to telecompetitor]
   Mozilla is buying Pocket and its more than 10 million users [links to Vox]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
T-Mobile's new promotion offers three unlimited data lines for $100 [links to Verge, The]
AT&T is cutting the price of its unlimited data plans [links to Washington Post]

CONTENT
   Op-Ed: Facebook Has a Trump Problem [links to AdWeek]
   YouTube Tops 1 Billion Hours of Video a Day, on Pace to Eclipse TV [links to Wall Street Journal]
   A Facebook-Style Shift in How Science Is Shared [links to New York Times]

JOURNALISM
   Pew Research Center: The New Age of Politics and Media [links to Pew Research Center]
   If the New York Times is so inaccurate, where are all of its corrections? [links to Washington Post]
   Why Conservatives Love Trump's Attacks On Journalists - Media Matters for America [links to Benton summary]
   News coverage of President Trump is really, really negative. Even on Fox News. - op-ed [links to Benton summary]

CHILDREN & MEDIA
To Keep Teens Safe Online, They Need To Learn To Manage Risk [links to NPR]

DIVERSITY
Black History Month and Tech: Honoring Past Contributions and Pushing for Increased Diversity [links to Public Knowledge]

POLICYMAKERS
   Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross confirmed as Trump’s secretary of commerce
   Trump’s new FCC chairman calls for ‘regulatory humility’ on 5G
   FCC Chairman Pai’s Alternative Personalities, Facts, Economics and Law—Part Two - TeleFrieden [links to Benton summary]
   FCC Chairman Pai’s Alternate Facts Part 3, Privacy "Protection" for Broadband Consumers - TeleFrieden [links to Benton summary]
   FCC: I Do Believe We’re on the Eve of Destruction. [links to Benton summary]
   Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Thune Aide Hap Rigby Joins Wiley Rein [links to Broadcasting&Cable]

COMPANY NEWS
Comcast’s Brian Roberts Says Company Has Become ‘Aggregator of Aggregators’ [links to Wrap, The]
Comcast is integrating YouTube into its set-top box — just like it did with Netflix [links to Vox]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
Germany’s Intelligence Service Spied on Journalists, Report Says [links to New York Times]
ITU: Time to Advance Digital Health: A Call for Government Leadership [links to International Telecommunication Union]

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COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY

GEORGE W BUSH CRITIQUES TRUMP ON FREE PRESS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Abby Phillip]
Former President George W. Bush rarely weighs in on current political events, but on Feb 27 he offered some of his most pointed critiques of President Donald Trump's statements and policies. “I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy,” Bush said. “We need an independent media to hold people like me to account." "Power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive and it's important for the media to call to account people who abuse power, whether it be here or elsewhere,” he added. Bush noted that during his presidency, he sought to persuade people like Russian President Vladimir Putin to respect a free press. “It's kind of hard to tell others to have an independent free press when we're not willing to have one ourselves,” Bush said.
benton.org/headlines/george-w-bush-critiques-trump-free-press | Washington Post | The Hill
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TRUMP: NYT HAS 'EVIL' INTENTIONS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jonathan Easley]
President Donald Trump lashed out at The New York Times in an interview with Breitbart News, saying that he can handle rough treatment from the media but that the nation’s largest newspaper is out to sink him at any cost. “It’s intent. It’s also intent. If you read The New York Times, if you read The New York Times, it’s — the intent is so evil and so bad,” Trump told Breitbart’s Washington political editor, Matthew Boyle, in a sit-down interview in the Oval Office. “The stories are wrong in many cases, but it’s the overall intent.”
benton.org/headlines/trump-new-york-times-has-evil-intentions | Hill, The
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HOW TRUMP WH IS TRYING TO INTIMIDATE JOURNALISTS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Callum Borchers]
Attacks on the press by President Trump and his aides are so frequent that they blur together. But not all attacks are the same. Some, such as the “opposition party” label applied by White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, are aimed at the entire mainstream media. Others target certain news outlets, such as the “failing” New York Times and “fake news” CNN. Still others zero in on individual journalists. What almost all of them have in common is a lack of specifics. So, it was notable that when the Trump White House went after Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt on Feb 26, it took the unusual step of leveling a precise charge: Isenstadt, according to “one informed official” quoted by the Washington Examiner, laughed about the death of a Navy SEAL during a conversation with White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Politico fired back at what it called a “patently false characterization of the conversation.” Isenstadt declined to discuss the episode further, and the Examiner reporter who agreed to publish the claim, Paul Bedard, turned down an interview request.
benton.org/headlines/how-trump-white-house-trying-intimidate-journalists | Washington Post
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO SOCIAL MEDIA?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Adam Liptak]
A Supreme Court argument about whether North Carolina may bar registered sex offenders from using Facebook, Twitter and similar services turned into a discussion of how thoroughly social media have transformed American civic discourse. The justices’ remarks, which indicated easy familiarity with the major social media services, suggested that they would strike down the North Carolina law under the First Amendment. Justice Elena Kagan said that President Trump, every governor and every member of Congress has a Twitter account. “So this has become a crucially important channel of political communication,” she said. “And a person couldn’t go onto those sites and find out what these members of our government are thinking or saying or doing.” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said that social media sites had become, and in some ways had surpassed, the public square as a place for discussion and debate. “The sites that Justice Kagan has described and their utility and the extent of their coverage are greater than the communication you could have ever had, even in the paradigm of public square,” Justice Kennedy said. The North Carolina law has economic consequences, too, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said. “Take something like LinkedIn, which many, many people in our society today are looking for jobs there, but high school students are permitted to look for jobs and to post their personal data on that site,” she said.
benton.org/headlines/constitutional-right-facebook-and-twitter-supreme-court-weighs | New York Times
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CLYBURN VOWS TO FIGHT FOR NET NEUTRALITY AT RALLY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Harper Neidig]
Mignon Clyburn, the lone Democratic commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, joined with activists on Capitol Hill to commemorate the anniversary of the agency's landmark network neutrality rules and vowed to fight to defend them. “Now it is time for us to once again roll up our sleeves and fight for the protections embodied in the Open Internet Order, that are designed to ensure that the internet remains an open platform, that enables free speech, freedom of expression and the ability for innovation to flourish,” said Commissioner Clyburn, speaking alongside representatives from civil rights groups and advocates of net neutrality. “For me it can be summed up in this way: How do we ensure that one of most inclusive, enabling, empowering platforms of our time continues to be one where our applications, products, ideas and diverse points of view have the exact same chance of being seen and heard by everyone, regardless of our class, race, economic status or where we live?” Clyburn added.
benton.org/headlines/commissioner-clyburn-vows-fight-net-neutrality-rally | Hill, The
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KING LETTER RE: BROADBAND FUNDING FOR RURAL HEALTHCARE
[SOURCE: US Senate, AUTHOR: Sen Angus King (I-ME)]
Sen Angus King (I-ME) led five of his colleagues, including Sen Susan Collins (R-ME), in sending a bipartisan letter calling on the Federal Communications Commission to work to avoid cuts or spending reductions to the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program, which helps deliver vital health care services and telemedicine to people who live in rural areas by providing funding for broadband. The letter specifically calls on the FCC to act on the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition’s recently filed letter, which recommends funding mechanisms that would avoid service disruptions to patients and health clinics in rural areas. “We ask you to address the future of the RHC as soon as possible. The Commission can and should take steps to avoid flash cuts or sudden funding reductions for health care providers that use this vital program. […] Because previously committed funds have already been collected, re-allocation of these funds will not require increased universal service fund collections. The Commission could take such action immediately on an interim basis to ensure that health care providers and consortia do not face funding reductions, thereby giving the Commission time to work on strengthening the future of the RHC program," the letter read.
benton.org/headlines/sen-king-leads-letter-calling-fcc-protect-broadband-funding-rural-healthcare-clinics | US Senate | SHLB
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USDA EXPANDING BROADBAND IN IL AND OK
[SOURCE: Department of Agriculture, AUTHOR: Press release]
Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Roger Glendenning announced that the US Department of Agricutlure is awarding $19.3 million in loans to provide broadband in rural portions of Illinois and Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, Southern Plains Cable, LLC will receive a $15.3 million loan to build a fiber-optic broadband network serving a 55-square-mile area that includes the communities of Anadarko, Verden, and Chickasha. Illinois' Moultrie Independent Telephone Company will receive a $4 million loan to make upgrades to fiber service in a portion of its service territory. Both loans are being provided through USDA's Telecommunications Programs of the Rural Utilities Service.
benton.org/headlines/usda-helps-expand-broadband-service-rural-illinois-and-oklahoma | United States Department of Agriculture
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SECURITY/PRIVACY

O'RIELLY STATEMENT ON BROADBAND PRIVACY STAY ORDER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly]
As I indicated in my dissenting statement when the previous Commission adopted these rules, I believe they are fatally flawed from the standpoints of both statutory authority and public policy. I support the Chairman's proposal to allow the Commission and Congress time to take another look at these ill-considered rules before they have a chance to throw broadband providers' data security practices into unsettled territory. Additionally, I support the Chairman's decision to give Commissioners a chance to weigh in here in a process similar to that I proposed in a recent blog post. Agree or disagree with the underlying proposal, everyone should commend the Chairman's move away from the delegated authority abuses we have seen in the past, toward more input from Commissioners. I certainly will commit to record my vote on this item by March 2 in exchange for the new opportunity to make my voice heard at the Commission level, and hope that this opportunity will be made available to Commissioners as a matter of course going forward.
benton.org/headlines/commissioner-orielly-statement-commission-consideration-broadband-privacy-interim-stay | Federal Communications Commission | B&C
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SEN MARKEY OPPOSITION TO CONGRESSIONAL PLAN TO KILL ONLINE PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) laid down another marker on the issue of broadband privacy, headlining a press conference with privacy groups vowing to fight Republican efforts in Congress and at the Federal Communications Commission to roll back FCC broadband privacy rules. Sen Markey said that Democrats would wage a historic battle to preserve the rules, as well as the Open Internet order to which it is linked. He called Internet service providers gatekeepers and said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was doing their bidding by trying to roll back the rules, starting with data security protections. He said that would allow ISPs to ignore best practices and make sensitive information more vulnerable. “Without the FCC’s broadband privacy rules, broadband providers will be able to sell dossiers of the personal and professional lives of their subscribers to the highest bidder without their consent.‎ We cannot allow the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans to put corporate interests before consumer protections. I will oppose any effort to roll back these important broadband privacy rules, either by Congress or at the FCC,” Sen Markey said.
benton.org/headlines/sen-markey-joins-public-interest-groups-opposition-congressional-plan-kill-online-privacy | Broadcasting&Cable | Public Knowledge
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REP PALLONE SEEKS GAO STUDY OF BROADBAND PRIVACY OVERSIGHT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Government Accountability Office has been asked by House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) to study the status of broadband privacy regulatory authority over both Internet service providers and the edge. Rep Pallone points to the bifurcated oversight of Internet service providers (the Federal Communications Commission) and edge providers (Federal Trade Commission) and the "fluctuating state of the law and underlying threats to individuals' privacy and security online." Those include that a court case has brought into question the FTC's ability to regulate edge provider privacy if that edge provider is owned by a common carrier—such as Verizon buying Yahoo—and the fact that the FCC's broadband privacy framework is under review by current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. In a letter to comptroller general Gene L. Dodaro, Rep Pallone asks for GAO to study and report back to the committee, pointing out that "[w]ith the near universal use of the internet, and the rapid expansion of connected devices, corporations now have more information about American consumers than ever before."
benton.org/headlines/rep-pallone-seeks-gao-study-broadband-privacy-oversight | Broadcasting&Cable
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OWNERSHIP

PAI DOESNT EXPECT TO REVIEW ATT-TIME WARNER
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Gryta]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai he didn’t expect the agency to have a role in reviewing AT&T's $85 billion takeover of Time Warner. Chairman Pai said he understood the companies have structured the deal so that no airwave licenses would be transferred, something that would trigger a broad FCC review. “That is the regulatory hook for FCC review,” he said. “My understanding is that the deal won’t be presented to the commission.” That would leave the Justice Department as the sole federal agency reviewing the transaction. He said the FCC hasn’t had any interaction with the department concerning the deal.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-says-doesnt-expect-agency-review-att-time-warner-deal | Wall Street Journal
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POLICYMAKERS

WILBUR ROSS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ana Swanson]
Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., a former banker and investor who earned billions during decades of buying and selling industries and who President Trump has touted to lead his trade negotiations, was confirmed as secretary of commerce by the Senate in a 72-to-27 vote. Dubbed the “king of bankruptcy” for his leveraged buyouts of battered companies in the steel, coal, textile and banking industries, Ross has generated a fortune of $2.5 billion, ranking him among the wealthiest 250 people in America. Ross worked for decades at the New York investment bank of Rothschild, during which time he represented Trump's failing Taj Mahal casino and helped forge a deal that allowed President Trump to retain ownership. In the early 2000s, Ross purchased some of America’s largest steel mills, including Pennsylvania’s Bethlehem Steel and Cleveland’s LTV Corp. He later sold his steel conglomerate to India’s Mittal Steel, helping to form what is now the world’s largest steel company.
benton.org/headlines/billionaire-investor-wilbur-ross-confirmed-trumps-secretary-commerce | Washington Post | NYTimes | The Hill
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AJIT PAI
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Nic Fildes]
Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has called for a greater degree of “regulatory humility” to open the door to greater investment in 5G and fibre networks. Chairman Pai defended the decision to do away with hard-fought rules on network neutrality that forbid broadband providers from blocking or limiting internet traffic from some content providers while selling “fast lanes” to others. He said that spending by telecoms companies had fallen after the regulations were introduced which he attributed to “heavy-handed legal framework applied by the FCC” that had deterred investment. “Infrastructure spending is lower today than in 2015. That does not benefit consumers,” he said. Chairman Pai argued that telecoms companies needed to be offered incentives to justify the billions of dollars of investment in 5G and fibre networks and has moved to deregulate the industry as a result. “My goal is to return to the goals of the open internet,” he said, rebuffing accusations that the removal of net neutrality regulations would lead to telecoms companies manipulating internet access to favour certain services.
benton.org/headlines/trumps-new-fcc-chairman-calls-regulatory-humility-5g | Financial Times
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February 2017

China’s Twitter clone will soon have more users than Twitter

CNN’s Correspondents' Association dinner guests will be journalism students, not celebs

The White House’s Politico slime job, from start to finish

February 28, 2017 (Ward Chamberlin)

Ward Chamberlin Jr., Architect of Nation’s Public Broadcasting

A Constitutional Right to Facebook and Twitter? Supreme Court Weighs In

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross confirmed as Trump’s secretary of commerce

News coverage of President Trump is really, really negative. Even on Fox News.

Trump’s new FCC chairman calls for ‘regulatory humility’ on 5G