BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
Robert Silvers, a Founding Editor of New York Review of Books
David Rockefeller — Philanthropist, Banker And Collector
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
FCC Chairman Pai Reiterates Support for the First Amendment
FCC Chairman Pai Vows to Stand Up To Trump Administration - press release
FBI Director Comey confirms probe of possible coordination between Kremlin and Trump campaign
White House claims FBI, NSA told Congress Russia did not influence election [links to Hill, The]
Watergate reporter: GOP lawmakers decrying leaks have knowingly leaked classified information [links to Hill, The]
Ex-CIA chief Panetta: President Trump 'probably should apologize' to President Obama over wiretapping claim [links to Hill, The]
Rex Tillerson’s view of media access is completely backward [links to Washington Post]
President Trump sets a new bar for presidential paranoia [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
On the Road in the Industrial Midwest - FCC Chairman Pai blog [links to Benton summary]
Pai’s FCC is rebooting broadband facilities competition and 5G investment - Scott Cleland op-ed [links to Benton summary]
In New York, Bringing Broadband to Everyone by 2018
Report's author pleased to see Massachusetts Broadband Institute money freed up [links to Benton summary]
West Virginia Broadband Bill Aims to Spark Competition, Encouraging Community Broadband and Co-Ops
After years waiting for Google Fiber, KC residents get cancellation e-mails [links to Benton summary]
Wi-Fi on wheels: Google helps students get online, on the go
A timeline of Netflix’s conflicting stances on net neutrality [links to Verge, The]
How the Internet Is Saving Culture, Not Killing It - analysis [links to Benton summary]
Opinion: The Internet gets a bad rap. But it still has a unique power to unite us. [links to Washington Post]
Millennials Might Break America's Internet [links to Benton summary]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
FCC, FTC are playing a shell game with online privacy - Gigi Sohn op-ed
Wireless providers argue your web history isn’t ‘sensitive’ and they should be able to sell it [links to Vox]
How To Fight for Your Rights and Privacy Online [links to Benton summary]
US curbs laptops and tablets on flights from Mideast [links to Financial Times]
Laptop with Trump, Clinton information stolen from Secret Service [links to CBS]
Section 702: Two myths, two concerns, and two final thoughts - IAPP op-ed [links to Benton summary]
The FBI Says It Doesn’t Need Encryption for Unclassified Evidence [links to Benton summary]
Third Circuit doesn’t resolve standard for forced decryption under the Fifth Amendment [links to Washington Post]
A simple command allows the CIA to commandeer 318 models of Cisco switches [links to Ars Technica]
FTC, NHTSA to Conduct Workshop on June 28 on Privacy, Security Issues Related to Connected, Automated Vehicles [links to Federal Trade Commission]
Protecting consumers from the FTC: Three cheers for harm! [links to American Enterprise Institute]
Computer viruses are harnessing webcams, thermostats and other connected devices—while owners remain in the dark [links to Wall Street Journal]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Lessons From a Policy Success - Blair Levin op-ed
Give wireless a bigger seat at the broadband deployment table - Craig Settles op-ed [links to Benton summary]
4G is coming to the 'dumb' phone [links to CNN]
BUDGET
Trump’s budget proposal gives DHS $1.5 billion for cybersecurity [links to Hill, The] US public broadcasting, target of Trump cuts, found its voice amid presidential scandal - op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Media Institute’s Patrick Maines -- Keep Big Bird, ditch the news: A path forward for PBS with budget cuts [links to Hill, The]
JOURNALISM
Windfall could transform NJ media - Craig Aaron op-ed [links to Benton summary]
An important lesson on covering Trump from Jimmy Breslin [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
How the Conservative Media Became Trump’s Lapdogs - Politico op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Fox News Sidelines Andrew Napolitano After Wiretap Allegation [links to New York Times]
TELECOM
FCC Proposes Extension of the Freeze of Jurisdictional Separations - public notice [links to Benton summary]
CONTENT
Judge OKs warrant to reveal who searched a crime victim’s name on Google [links to Ars Technica]
Congressional Committees and Hearings Wikipedia Edit-a-thon [links to Library of Congress]
TELEVISION
Dish to Rep Eshoo: We Agree Consumers Shouldn't Be Pawns [links to Benton summary]
HEALTH
iPads In Every Hospital: Apple’s Plan To Crack The $3 Trillion Health Care Sector [links to Fast Company]
DIVERSITY
Despite gains, women remain underrepresented among US political and business leaders - Pew research [links to Benton summary]
USA Today gets its first female editor in chief [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
POLICYMAKERS
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration punches above its weight - Brookings analysis [links to Benton summary]
Telecom Policy Tilts To Industry Under Chairman Pai - AP analysis
Connolly, Layton May Top Trump’s FCC Short List
Hon. Wendy M. Moser of Colorado PUC to Separations Joint Board - public notice [links to Benton summary]
NCTA's Lewis Transitioning to Advisory Role [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
18F Frontwoman Hillary Hartley Pulls Plug on Term Early [links to Government Technology]
CTIA-The Wireless Association Names Justin Cole as Assistant VP of Public Affairs [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
COMPANY NEWS
Qualcomm Unveils Product for Lower-Priced Cell Phones [links to Wall Street Journal]
SoftBank Drops $100 Million Investment in iPhone Rival [links to Wall Street Journal]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Vodafone, Idea Agree on Merger to Create Indian Wireless Leader [links to Bloomberg]
British Regulators to Investigate 21st Century Fox’s Deal for Sky [links to Benton summary]
How China is preparing for cyberwar [links to Christian Science Monitor]
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COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
FCC CHAIRMAN PAI REITERATES SUPPORT FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai]
I welcome the opportunity to reiterate my strong support for the First Amendment rights of the media and all Americans. A free media is vital to our democracy. That is why during my time at the FCC I have consistently opposed any effort to infringe upon the freedom of the press and have fought to eliminate regulations that impede the gathering and dissemination of news. So long as I am privileged to serve as Chairman, I will continue to respect the First Amendment. As Chairman of the FCC, I take my oath to defend and protect the Constitution seriously. And the preservation of the First Amendment is the foundation of that commitment.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-pai-reiterates-support-first-amendment | Federal Communications Commission | B&C | The Hill
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PAI VOWS TO STAND UP TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Adrianne Furniss]
Responding to a letter from 13 U.S. Senators today, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai promised to alert the public of any attempt by the Trump Administration to influence FCC decision-making or direct the independent agency to take or not take any action with respect to media interests. The following may be attributed to Benton Foundation Executive Director Adrianne B. Furniss:
“I am glad to read Chairman Pai’s recognition that free media is vital to our democracy. While the Trump Administration continues to treat the press as the ‘opposition,’ Chairman Pai says he will respect the First Amendment. I hope that additional federal officeholders and Members of Congress also live up to their oath to defend and protect the Constitution.”
https://www.benton.org/node/256765
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FBI DIRECTOR CONFIRM POSSIBLE COORDINATION BETWEEN KREMLIN AND TRUMP CAMPAIGN
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima, Karoun Demirjian, Devlin Barrett]
FBI Director James B. Comey acknowledged that his agency is conducting an investigation into possible coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign in a counterintelligence probe that could reach all the way to the White House and may last for months. At the same time, Comey repeatedly refused to answer whether specific individuals close to the president had fallen under suspicion of any criminal wrongdoing, “so we don’t wind up smearing people” who may not be charged with a crime. The extraordinary disclosure came near the beginning of a sprawling, 5.5 hour public hearing by the House Intelligence Committee, the panel’s first into the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. The FBI traditionally does not disclose the existence of an investigation, “but in unusual circumstances, where it is in the public interest,” Comey said, “it may be appropriate to do so.” Comey also said he was authorized by the Justice Department to confirm the existence of the wide-ranging probe into Russian interference in the electoral process.
benton.org/headlines/fbi-director-comey-confirms-probe-possible-coordination-between-kremlin-and-trump-campaign | Washington Post | WaPo
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
IN NY, BRINGING BROADBAND TO EVERYONE BY 2018
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nick Corasaniti]
The dairy farmer in Halcott (NY), a town about 140 miles north of New York City, was one of the first beneficiaries of an ambitious initiative to extend broadband to every household in the state by 2018 — no matter how rural or far-flung the address — which would make New York the first state to reach that high-speed internet milestone. For years, this town was like many isolated spots in New York and across the country, left sitting on the shoulders of the digital highway unable to access the broadband speeds that so many businesses and households count on. But now under a state-led program, towns like Halcott, with fewer than 300 residents, are getting wired, giving residents faster access to the internet and opening new opportunities for businesses. Under Gov Andrew Cuomo’s (D-NY) “Broadband for All” initiative, New York’s program is one of the most aggressive broadband expansions in the country, and is designed to help stem any losses a private company incurs through what is known as a reverse auction process.
benton.org/headlines/new-york-bringing-broadband-everyone-2018 | New York Times
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WV BROADBAND BILL
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
A West Virginia Broadband Bill introduced in the state house of representatives aims to spur broadband competition and deployment by allowing local communities to form cooperatives to build broadband networks. House Bill 3093 also would re-establish a state broadband enhancement council charged with collecting data about internet speeds, seeking and dispensing non-state funding and grants, and making recommendations to the legislature. Additionally, the bill includes rules about the use of conduit, microtrenching and pole access, and would prevent broadband providers from making false claims about the speeds their broadband service is capable of delivering. Importantly, the bill is designed to require no state funding. Nevertheless,a local media outlet expects the bill to face opposition in the state senate, considering that the senate president also works as sales director for Frontier Communications, which already has expressed concerns about whether the bill would achieve its intended goals.
benton.org/headlines/west-virginia-broadband-bill-aims-spark-competition-encouraging-community-broadband-and-co | telecompetitor
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WI-FI SCHOOL BUSES
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Meg Kinnard]
As more class assignments and homework migrate online, long bus rides have generally counted as lost time in preparing for the next school day. But Google said it hopes to help expand the use of Wi-Fi on school buses in rural areas around the country. Google has funded 28 Wi-Fi-equipped school buses in South Carolina's rural Berkeley County. Google also has given the school district 1,700 Chromebooks, the stripped-down laptops on which many schoolchildren now do their class and homework. Google is also looking for ways to make the high-tech buses useful outside of school hours, working with the school district and community on places the buses can go once the school day is done to bring connectivity elsewhere, such as a community center or fellowship hall.
benton.org/headlines/wi-fi-wheels-google-helps-students-get-online-go | Associated Press
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
LESSONS FROM A POLICY SUCCESS
[SOURCE: InsideSources, AUTHOR: Blair Levin]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission is finishing an “incentive auction” of broadcast spectrum by which it created a market to match the price at which broadcasters were willing to sell spectrum with the price mobile operators were willing to pay. A bipartisan group of House Commerce Committee members described the outcome this way: “The incentive auction’s conclusion with more than $19 billion in bids marks the end of the second-largest auction and years of successful work in bringing market forces to bear on spectrum use policy. … Not only did the auction successfully encourage investment and competition by bringing 70 MHz of licensed and 14 MHz of unlicensed spectrum to meet our nation’s wireless broadband needs, but it also generated $7 billion for deficit reduction.” How did such a success occur and what lessons does it bring to today’s environment? Three stand out.
First, begin with a clear problem statement and generate bipartisan support for solving the problem.
Second, the solution should flow from a process that is transparent, fair, invites all to share credit and incorporates insights from a spectrum of stakeholders.
There’s one more lesson that might prove more controversial, though it shouldn’t. That is that smart, data-driven economic policy will create far more jobs and economic growth than ad hoc, stunt-driven events.
[Blair Levin is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institute Metropolitan Policy Project]
benton.org/headlines/lessons-policy-success | InsideSources
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
FCC, FTC ARE PLAYING A SHELL GAME WITH ONLINE PRIVACY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gigi Sohn]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission and Congress are taking steps to weaken and eliminate the FCC’s privacy rules for broadband Internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast and AT&T. The proponents of these efforts make two arguments - neither of which will leave consumers with the privacy protections they now have and deserve. The first is that there should be one set of privacy rules for ISPs and so-called “edge” companies like Google and Facebook, and that these privacy practices should be overseen solely by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which currently has no legal authority over ISPs. I agree that one set of rules for the Internet ecosystem might be desirable, but why shouldn’t they meet the higher FCC standard that affords consumers more protection? And while the FTC is an important partner to the FCC on a variety of consumer protection and competition matters, including privacy, it lacks the ability to adopt rules - a critically important tool when it comes to protecting consumers. The second argument is that even without the broadband privacy rules, the FCC can still protect consumer privacy under Section 222 of the Communications Act, which requires telecommunications carriers to protect the privacy of their customers’ information. But there is a more fundamental problem. If, as FCC Chairman Ajit Pai believes, that the FTC, and not the FCC, should have the legal authority to regulate the privacy practices of ISPs, why would his agency enforce Section 222 at all? Indeed, his colleague Commissioner Mike O’Rielly made clear in his dissent to the October privacy decision that he does not believe the FCC has that authority today. Nobody should fall for this privacy shell game. The FCC’s broadband privacy rules are currently the best protection consumers have for their personal information online.
[Gigi Sohn is an Open Society Foundations Leadership in Government Fellow.]
benton.org/headlines/fcc-ftc-are-playing-shell-game-online-privacy | Hill, The
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POLICYMAKERS
TELECOM POLICY TILTS TO INDUSTRY UNDER PAI
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Tali Arbel]
Trumpism is slowly taking hold on your phone and computer, as the Federal Communications Commission starts chipping away at hard-fought protections on privacy and competition. These measures, put in place before President Donald Trump took office, had upset the phone and cable industries. The new regime says consumers win if businesses face less regulation and have more incentives to invest. But consumer advocates worry these changes give broadband providers that own media businesses more power to favor their own services, among other things. The changes are small and easily overlooked. But they're the first shots in what could turn into a full-fledged war over Obama-era "network neutrality" rules, which were designed to keep phone and cable giants from favoring their own internet services and apps. Overturning these rules would also likely reverse a privacy measure meant to keep broadband providers from using and selling customer data without permission. "Death by a thousand cuts is a constantly overused cliche, but that's sort of what they're aiming for right now," said Matt Wood, the policy director of consumer group Free Press, referring to the Republicans now in power at the FCC.
benton.org/headlines/telecom-policy-tilts-industry-under-chairman-pai | Associated Press
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CONNOLLY, LAYTON MAY TOP TRUMP'S FCC SHORT LIST
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Kyle Daly]
Telecommunication industry insiders waiting for President Donald Trump to name a third GOP member of the Federal Communications Commission are focused on two possible contenders. Industry officials and telecom attorneys are pointing to Duke University economics professor Michelle Connolly and American Enterprise Institute scholar Roslyn Layton as likely candidates for the post. The pair may have an edge over other possible picks because conservatives are interested in candidates with a strong grounding in economics. The Obama Administration’s FCC endured GOP criticism for allegedly not folding sufficient economic analysis into new rules and regulations. Sitting GOP Commissioner Michael O’Rielly called for the creation of an all-new FCC economics bureau in March 8 testimony for a Senate oversight hearing. Connolly, the FCC’s chief economist under former Republican Chairman Kevin Martin, holds a raft of Yale University economics degrees. Layton’s work with AEI and as a fellow in the Center for Communication, Media and Information Technologies at Denmark’s Aalborg University has touched frequently on the economics of technology and the internet. She advised the Trump team on the FCC during the transition.
benton.org/headlines/connolly-layton-may-top-trumps-fcc-short-list | Bloomberg
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