BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017
Today's Events
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
The Internet just helped a staggering number of people engage with their government
Trump White House coaxes media into re-running terrorists’ greatest hits [links to Washington Post]
BuzzFeed vs. Trump [links to Benton summary]
Trump adviser: Administration will continue to say ‘fake news’ [links to Benton summary]
Rep Brooks blasts Washington Post 'fake news hit piece' [links to Benton summary]
Rep Jordan: Media trying to undermine Trump [links to Benton summary]
First Amendment Support Climbing Among High School Students [links to Benton summary]
Women's March catapults Muslim American into national spotlight and social-media crosshairs [links to Washington Post]
Someone is paying random internet users to lobby for Betsy DeVos's confirmation [links to Vox]
Digital Democracy Brings Legislative Transparency to New York [links to Government Technology]
Republicans vote to rebuke Sen Elizabeth Warren, saying she impugned Sessions’s character [links to Washington Post]
Video: Senate Majority Leader McConnell interrupts Warren's speech opposing Sessions [links to Washington Post]
DIGITAL DIVIDE/LIFELINE
Setting the Record Straight on the Digital Divide - press release
For Chairman Pai, Closing the Digital Divide Is Code for More Tax Breaks for Huge ISPs - press release
FCC Lifeline Reversal on FreedomPop, Eight Others Draws Fire
TELECOM
My Personal Story in Search of #PhoneJustice - FCC Commissioner Clyburn
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
Make America great with great broadband - Blair Levin
Democratic Lawmakers come out swinging on net neutrality
How Net Neutrality could get reversed (and what that means to you) - analysis [links to Benton summary]
Don’t Gut Net Neutrality. It’s Good for People and Business - Wired [links to Benton summary]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Community Anchor Institutions and Residential Broadband Adoption - research
Fiber broadband: Is it a waste with 5G and Elon Musk's satellites on the horizon? - analysis [links to Benton summary]
Are you being ripped off on Internet speeds? This lawsuit says yes [links to Los Angeles Times]
FCC REFORM
Statement Of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Announcing Two More Process Reform Measures - press release
New FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Is Off to an Orwellian Start - Free Press [links to Benton summary]
Outdated telecom laws pose a challenge for Ajit Pai’s FCC - Scott Cleland op-ed
A 21st century celebration of the Communications Act - AEI op-ed [links to Benton summary]
TRANSITION
Senate confirms DeVos with tie-breaking vote by Pence [links to Hill, The]
2016 ELECTION
Russia’s apparent meddling in U.S. election is not an act of war, cyber expert says [links to Washington Post]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Communities call for more control over police surveillance [links to CNN]
Most smart TVs are tracking you — Vizio just got caught [links to Verge, The]
Public Knowledge Moves to Preserve FCC’s Online Privacy Rules - press release [links to Benton summary]
How app makers increasingly track your every move [links to Benton summary]
ACCESSIBILITY
FCC Seeks Nominations For Sixth Chairman's Awards For Advancement In Accessibility (Chairman's AAA) - public notice [links to Benton summary]
Apply For Certification To Participate In The National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program [links to Federal Communications Commission]
BROADCASTING
Entercom Turns In KDND License [links to Benton summary]
CONTENT
Twitter unveils new features to curb harassment [links to Hill, The]
OWNERSHIP
Ivanka Trump oversaw Murdoch daughters’ trust
Moody’s: Telecom M&A to Continue [links to Benton summary]
Numbering Administrator Neustar asks for FCC Approval of Ownership Change [links to Federal Communications Commission]
JOURNALISM
Is News of Terror Attacks Underplayed? Experts Say No [links to New York Times]
Cable news is channeling The Daily Show to cover the Trump era [links to Vox]
CNN eschews access journalism in fight with truth-challenged White House [links to Washington Post]
Incoming CEO of David Brock’s progressive media venture backs out [links to Politico]
Maryland blogger settles defamation lawsuit brought by Melania Trump [links to Benton summary]
POLICYMAKERS
FTC Announces Departure of Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich [links to Federal Trade Commission]
COMPANY NEWS
This activist group is trying to oust Mark Zuckerberg as Facebook’s chairman [links to Benton summary]
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COMMUNICATIONS AND DEMOCRACY
WATCHING THE HEARING ON THE IMMIGRATION BAN
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Only rarely is the Web recognized for helping advance the cause of civic education and government transparency. But for a little over an hour on Feb 7, it did an amazing thing. The Internet brought an enormous number of people together to hear a federal appeals court deliberate over President Trump's entry ban. We're talking about oral argument. In a federal court. Where there wasn't much to see besides a black background and the court's logo. Considering how complex the discussion quickly became, it's all the more stunning how the feed kept attracting new viewers rather than losing them as time went on. At its peak, more than 135,000 people had tuned in to the audio-only proceeding on YouTube — and that's before you count those who were watching the court's live stream from other sources, such as cable TV and Facebook. That's pretty extraordinary — and another sign that in today's digitally connected world, the best technologies make accessible what was previously inaccessible.
benton.org/headlines/internet-just-helped-staggering-number-people-engage-their-government | Washington Post
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DIGITAL DIVIDE/LIFELINE
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai]
One recent Federal Communications Commission decision has caused some controversy of late. Specifically, some have asked why the agency’s Wireline Competition Bureau issued an order reconsidering nine companies’ eligibility to participate in the Lifeline program, which aims to help make voice and broadband more affordable to low-income Americans. It’s vital that low-income Americans have access to communications services, including broadband Internet, which Lifeline helps to achieve. Unfortunately, many of the media headlines have sensationalized this story and given some an entirely misleading impression of what is going on. Indeed, based on the some of the coverage, one would think that we had ended Lifeline broadband subsidies altogether. So I want to set the record straight about the modest steps we have taken and why we have taken them.
benton.org/headlines/setting-record-straight-digital-divide | Federal Communications Commission | The Hill | B&C
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FOR PAI, CLOSING DIGITAL DIVIDE IS CODE FOR TAX BREAKS
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Matt Wood]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai thinks he can set the record straight with more crooked words and made-up numbers. Like his boss in the White House, Chairman Pai should spend less time worrying about his media coverage and more time on his job. And his job is not to cheerlead for more corporate welfare for the biggest internet access providers in the form of tax breaks for their existing deployment plans. His job is to bring the benefits of open networks to all, something he’s failing at so far. Chairman Pai can dissemble all he wants, but the reality is that on Feb 3 he alone took the promise of free high-speed access away from low-income workers, students, veterans and tribal communities around the country. His disdain for the Lifeline program is reflected in his defensive comments, a clear indication that he will make every effort to dismantle the FCC’s 2016 modernization order and delay its benefits.
benton.org/headlines/chairman-pai-closing-digital-divide-code-more-tax-breaks-huge-isps | Free Press
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FCC LIFELINE REVERSAL DRAWS FIRE
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline actions drew harsh responses from a range of stakeholders. For example, the Benton Foundation issued a press release with comments from one of its directors and from nine other organizations criticizing the decision. “The unexpected revocations will not only limit choices for Lifeline customers, but also have a chilling effect on participation of other potential broadband providers of Lifeline service,” said Amina Fazlullah, director of policy at the Benton Foundation. Organizations criticizing the decision in the press release included the Communications Workers of America, the Free Press, the NAACP, the National Consumer Law Center and others.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-lifeline-reversal-freedompop-eight-others-draws-fire | telecompetitor
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TELECOM
CLYBURN STORY ON PHONEJUSTICE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn]
It is 9:10 am on Monday, February 6, 2017, and I am sitting in the courtroom without my cellphones. Like many who find themselves disconnected from their mobile device(s) for any length of time, I feel extremely uncomfortable and detached from the rest of the world. But whatever my discomfort, it pales in comparison to the day-to-day economic and personal torture felt by millions who remain on the wrong side of the economic justice divide and struggle to stay in touch with incarcerated loved ones. Innocent or guilty, too often poor and disenfranchised, millions of mostly black and brown families suffer mightily. They suffer because we who are sworn to serve them have turned our backs on the nation's most vulnerable communities. We are quick to judge and do not think twice as we ignore the plight of the families, friends and representatives of those imprisoned, but awaiting their day in court, and the millions of others who have been sentenced and are serving time: rightly, wrongly or unfairly. But the most callous indictment of us all, is how little we appear to care about the 2.7 million children, the ailing grandmothers and the other often-destitute family members who pay a heavy price just for picking up the phone and keeping in touch.
benton.org/headlines/my-personal-story-search-phonejustice | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC REFORM
PAI ANNOUNCING TWO MORE PROCESS REFORM MEASURES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai]
I am pleased to announce that the Federal Communications Commission will be implementing two additional process reform measures—each of which has been proposed by one of the two other FCC commissioners.
First, Commissioner Clyburn has suggested that when the agency releases the text of meeting items, we should also release a one-page fact sheet that summarizes the proposal in question. She notes that this could make the item that we release accessible to more Americans. I agree. The FCC will do this beginning with the release of any items for the March meeting.
Second, Commissioner O’Rielly has proposed that any substantive edits made to an item between the time it is circulated and the meeting at which we vote on it should have to be proposed by a Commissioner, rather than staff. This reform will help promote accountability and allow Commissioners to better understand where edits are coming from. We will therefore implement this reform immediately.
With these changes and others that have been announced in the last few days, we are off to a strong start on the issue of process reform. But there is still much more to do. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on improving the Commission’s operations.
benton.org/headlines/statement-fcc-chairman-ajit-pai-announcing-two-more-process-reform-measures | Federal Communications Commission | O'Rielly Statement | B&C
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OUTDATED TELECOM LAWS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Scott Cleland]
[Commentary] The most modern part of America’s economy – communications – suffers under America’s most out-of-date law and most backward-looking regulation. In the absence of Congress passing a modern communications law for the 21st century, it can be hard to see what a modern Federal Communications Commission would or should look like. As the new FCC, led by Republican Chairman Ajit Pai, organizes and focuses on how to legitimately mitigate and reverse the previous FCC’s most retrograde technology-driven regulations, it is much easier to know what is not a modern FCC.
[Scott Cleland is president of Precursor LLC and chairman of NetCompetition]
benton.org/headlines/outdated-telecom-laws-pose-challenge-ajit-pais-fcc | Hill, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
COMMUNITY ANCHORS AND BROADBAND ADOPTION
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Angela Siefer]
[Commentary] The Internet is driving innovation in community and economic development, education, health care, and government services. But residential broadband adoption1 has stalled. Community anchor institutions (CAIs) are improving residential broadband adoption in several ways: providing digital literacy training, educating consumers about government programs to promote broadband adoption, leading community planning efforts, lending wireless “hot spots,” and, in some cases, providing wireless broadband services directly to consumers. For these efforts to have the greatest impact, however, policymakers must provide CAIs and their community partners with the right resources and incentives. Solutions should be locally customized to meet the needs of specific populations.
[Angela Siefer is the Director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance]
https://www.benton.org/blog/community-anchor-institutions-and-residentia...
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MAKE AMERICA GREAT WITH GREAT BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Brookings, AUTHOR: Blair Levin]
[Commentary] Building broadband infrastructure, as with any infrastructure, raises three questions: how to finance it, what projects are eligible to receive the funding, and how the funds are distributed. I can think of seven potential approaches, none of which are exclusive and many of which are complementary:
Target anchor institutions—schools, libraries, health facilities, and other community institutions—to assure they have abundant bandwidth.
Target middle-mile facilities—the networks between the internet backbone and the local, final connection– to lower operating costs for multiple providers in low-density areas.
Target final-mile facilities, with a focus on communities that lack access to a network offering a certain speed threshold. One could build on the Federal Communications Commission’s current Connect America Fund structure to accelerate a next-generation buildout in rural areas, something I’ll discuss in more detail in a future post.
Target next-generation 5G mobile networks and the Civic Internet of Things to bring intelligence to the water, sewer, electricity, and transportation grids underlying our communities. Both these new platforms will share a need for, and operate over, a fiber network. The infrastructure fund could accelerate such deployments either through a model cities approach of funding demonstration projects or by funding many projects to create scale and standards.
Target digital enterprise zones. The new Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai recently proposed to use broadband to improve the economics of areas of persistent poverty. Pai deserves praise for both prioritizing government resources to attack poverty and laying out a detailed proposal. While I have my questions on the specific proposals, I support the direction Pai articulated and hope any infrastructure plan adopts his agenda.
Pursue a state block grant strategy. Distributing the funds through state block grants that rely on a formula, such as per capita funding, may prove a productive path, particularly if the states have broad discretion for eligibility.
Pursue a city block grant strategy, but rather than distributing the funds on a per capita basis, as with states, funds would be distributed to target cities that adopt certain best practices of deployment.
(This is the first of three blogs discussing the state of broadband policy as a new administration and Congress begin.)
benton.org/headlines/make-america-great-great-broadband-0 | Brookings
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY
DEM SENS COME OUT SWINGING ON NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Ali Breland]
Democratic lawmakers vowed to stand firm against any efforts by Republicans to roll back the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) network neutrality rules. “The big broadband barons and their Republican allies want to turn back the clock and make big cable and big cellphone companies the gatekeepers for internet access,” said Sen Ed Markey (D-MA). “They have a new FCC chairman in Ajit Pai who will do their bidding.” Supporters of the internet rules, which require broadband providers to treat all traffic the same, are worried net neutrality could be on the chopping block under a GOP-controlled Congress and FCC. "You’ve got Senate Democrats who understand how important this issue is,” said Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR). “If it comes down to the citizens and the people at the grassroots against the special interests, we’ve shown we can win that. I’m looking forward to that fight again,” he added, noting the millions of comments filed in support of net neutrality in 2014.
benton.org/headlines/democratic-lawmakers-come-out-swinging-net-neutrality | Hill, The | ars technica | Morning Consult | Multichannel News
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OWNERSHIP
IVANKA AND MURDOCH
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Matthew Garrahan]
Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka was a trustee for a large bloc of shares in 21st Century Fox and News Corp that belong to Rupert Murdoch’s two youngest daughters, underscoring the close ties between the US president’s family and the mogul behind the Fox News Channel. The president’s daughter was a trustee of Grace and Chloe Murdoch, Murdoch’s children by his ex-wife Wendi Deng, during the campaign. The two girls, aged 15 and 13, hold shares worth close to a combined $300 million in the two companies, which are controlled by Murdoch and his family. Ivanka Trump said that she stepped down from the board on December 28.
benton.org/headlines/ivanka-trump-oversaw-murdoch-daughters-trust | Financial Times
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