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  2. February 2017

February 2017

SHLB Coalition
February 16, 2017
11 am - 12 pm ET
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/354079c00df41f888c34be5db4a05ad8

Kurt Kiefer will provide an overview of the Broadband Expansion Grant managed by Wisconsin's Public Service Commission. Susan McVey will discuss the Oklahoma Broadband Initiative and how it connects schools, libraries, health clinics and other anchors. Diane Wells will provide insight into Minnesota's successful Border-to-Border Broadband grant program. Learn how your state can support greater broadband connectivity for all!

This webinar is free and open to the public.

Follow along online by tweeting at @SHLBCoalition and following the hashtag #Grow2Gig


February 14, 2017 (From Benton With Love)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2017 (HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY)

Today's Event -- Fresh Start in Washington: Ed Tech, the New Administration and Congress, Consortium for School Networking -- https://www.benton.org/node/254770


INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Sen Thune Not Waiting for FCC to Act Before Drafting Net Neutrality Bill
   GOP split on network neutrality strategy [links to Benton summary]
   Net neutrality should be Silicon Valley’s next fight - San Jose Mercury News [links to Benton summary]
   Why Snap Is Worried About Net Neutrality [links to Benton summary]
   In infrastructure plan, a big opening for rural broadband - Blair Levin, Carol Mattey
   AT&T lights up gigabit fiber in five new metro areas [links to Benton summary]

COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
   Trump Has Called Dozens Of Things Fake News. None Of Them Are. [links to Media Matters for America]
   Is President Trump Seeking Softball Questions? [links to Benton summary]
   Top Wall Street Journal Editor Defends Trump Coverage [links to New York Times]
   Journalists see Trump as a threat to their careers, and calling - CJR op-ed [links to Benton summary]
   President Trump’s Tweets Have Companies Playing Defense [links to Wall Street Journal]
   With Trump in the limelight, Congress has been quietly working to undo Obama-era regulations [links to Los Angeles Times]

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   Sens Carper, McCaskill want answers about security of Trump's phone [links to Benton summary]
   A NASA Engineer Was Required to Unlock his Phone at the Border [links to Benton summary]
   Sens Thune, Moran: Yahoo CEO must answer questions about data breaches within 10 days [links to Ars Technica]
   Better Legal Protection for Emails?—My Fault That It’s Needed [links to CommLawBlog]
   Andreas Weigend: Should tech companies pay us for our data? [links to Los Angeles Times]

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   CBO Scores Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless Act (S 19) - research [links to Benton summary]
   Banks Look to Cellphones to Replace ATM Cards [links to New York Times]
   Group asks feds to pump brakes on ‘driver mode’ for phones [links to Benton summary]

TELEVISION
   Reforming the FCC’s Video Competition Policy - Multichannel News op-ed [links to Benton summary]

CONTENT
   Google Has First Amendment Right To Remove Sites From Search Results [links to MediaPost]

JOURNALISM
   Wall Street Journal Editor Defends Paper’s Coverage of Trump [links to Benton summary]
   Facebook appeals to Texas reporters during local journalism roadshow [links to Columbia Journalism Review]

ADVERTISING
   Facebook Commits to Audit of Its Ad Metrics by Media Watchdog [links to Bloomberg]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   PSHSB Announces The Opening Of A Four Week Testing Period For Version 3.0 Of The Network Outage Reporting System [links to Federal Communications Commission]

POLICYMAKERS
   Ajit Pai will return pro-consumer focus at FCC - Scott Cleland op-ed

COMPANY NEWS
   Verizon is launching a new unlimited data plan. Here are the details. [links to Washington Post]
   T-Mobile responds to Verizon by improving its own unlimited data plan [links to Verge, The]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Cameroon’s Internet Has Been Cut For Four Weeks With No End in Sight [links to Vice]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

THUNE NOT WAITING FOR FCC TO ACT BEFORE DRAFTING NET NEUTRALITY BILL
[SOURCE: Morning Consult, AUTHOR: Amir Nasr]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) is pushing forward with plans to draft legislation that would codify network neutrality principles into law, even if the Federal Communications Commission hasn’t taken action to roll back the agency’s 2015 Open Internet order. “Sen Thune is open to immediately working with his colleagues on legislation if there is a serious readiness on the other side of the aisle to come to the table,” said Commerce Committee spokesman Frederick Hill. “To date, Democrats haven’t been quite ready to sit down.” At the same time, Hill added that action from the FCC action could lead to “new engagement” from Democrats in a legislative effort, and Chairman Thune is “all for that.” The remarks follow recent comments from House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who said that she wanted to the let the FCC make the first move on net neutrality before legislating.
benton.org/headlines/sen-thune-not-waiting-fcc-act-drafting-net-neutrality-bill | Morning Consult
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IN INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN, A BIG OPENING FOR RURAL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Brookings, AUTHOR: Blair Levin, Carol Mattey]
With the Trump Administration dangling the prospect of a $1 trillion infrastructure program, now is the time to consider whether a new approach might more effectively address the rural broadband problem. As a starting point, Congress should consider setting aside some portion of a new infrastructure fund, say $20 billion, for a one-time rural broadband acceleration fund that is expressly designed to make the Federal Communications Commission’s universal service program more efficient. Under this option, a rural area currently without a network capable of meeting the FCC’s 25/3 Mbps benchmark would be eligible for funding. The FCC would set an opening per-location amount for how much it would be willing to pay a carrier in one-time support to deploy a next generation network providing enough bandwidth to meet the upper bounds of future expected demand (for example, a symmetric 100 Mbps) within a set time frame. An express condition of the support would be that the FCC will not provide any ongoing funding in the future. If companies recognized this is their best chance to finance a “future-proof” solution, the aggregate of funds sought by the carriers would likely be substantially in excess of the available targeted fund. If this is the case, then the FCC would run a reverse auction, with firms bidding to receive a lower per-location amount in each round until the amount reached the available targeted fund.
benton.org/headlines/infrastructure-plan-big-opening-rural-broadband | Brookings
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POLICYMAKERS

PAI WILL RETURN PRO-CONSUMER FOCUS AT FCC
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Scott Cleland]
[Commentary] Unlike the Federal Communications Commission’s previous head, new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is putting consumers first, not network neutrality. The sad reality is that the previous FCC did the bidding of the biggest edge providers, both on the issue of net neutrality and opening up the cable box market, as I will explain. Net neutrality began as a bipartisan, unanimous FCC policy statement in 2005 that ensured consumers could competitively access and use the legal content, apps, and devices of their choice, subject to reasonable network management. In 2009, net neutrality ceased being about consumers, and all about edge providers, when Professor Tim Wu, the one who coined the term “net neutrality,” redefined it to become about consumers economically subsidizing edge providers. By replacing Title II net neutrality price regulation with free market competition that naturally puts customers in charge, Chairman Pai can reverse mistakes made during the Obama administration, and bring a truly pro-consumer focus back to his agency.
[Scott Cleland is president of Precursor LLC and chairman of NetCompetition.]
benton.org/headlines/ajit-pai-will-return-pro-consumer-focus-fcc | Hill, The
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GOP split on network neutrality strategy

Republicans in Congress and at the Federal Communications Commission may have to make some tough decisions soon on how to tackle the Obama administration's landmark network neutrality rules.

At this early stage, it's unclear whether Republicans and Democrats in Congress will work out a legislative solution to the battle over the net neutrality rules that went into effect in 2015. Both sides have interests in putting a compromise into law. Some Republicans worry that actions FCC Chairman Ajit Pai could take to roll back the rules could just be reversed under a future Democratic administration. And Democrats may want to shore up the net neutrality principles in the meantime against a broader rollback. But a compromise is already proving to be a hard sell in some quarters. Democrats vowed to combat any attempts to pare back net neutrality. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has yet to reveal how he's going to handle going after the net neutrality rules, which he has criticized for reclassifying internet service providers to treat broadband as a public utility.

Is President Trump Seeking Softball Questions?

President Donald Trump managed to avoid questions about hot-button issues facing the White House — such as the future of national security adviser Michael Flynn and a North Korean missile launch — in a news conference where selected reporters asked non-challenging questions and other, shouted-out inquiries were ignored. The president selected his questioners: Scott Thuman from Washington's local ABC News affiliate and Kaitlan Collins of The Daily Caller, a conservative website founded in 2010 by Fox News Channel anchor Tucker Carlson. "Personnel questions are interesting, but our readers want substance. They don't want Washington bull----. They want to know where the next war is going to be," Collins said.

Wall Street Journal Editor Defends Paper’s Coverage of Trump

Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Gerard Baker aggressively defended the newspaper against criticism that its reporting on President Donald Trump has been soft, saying the coverage has aimed to hold the new administration accountable without becoming “oppositional.” Baker said he has found it “irritating” to read critiques of the Journal’s coverage of President Trump. He rattled off a string of Journal exclusives and in-depth articles as evidence of the paper’s aggressive coverage, including reporting on the president’s business conflicts and foreign dealings and the recent controversy surrounding Michael Flynn, his national security adviser.

Addressing an internal forum of over 100 newsroom employees—with others listening by phone around the world—Baker also spoke about the state of the business. He said a “very adverse” advertising environment forced 200 job cuts through layoffs and buyouts, but pointed to substantial gains in digital subscriptions. The event came after multiple media reports, citing unnamed news employees, described internal rancor at the Journal over its approach to covering the Trump administration under Baker’s leadership.

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