March 2017

Chinese Internet Companies Lose Their Wiggle Room

Submitted by benton on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 07:04

Chinese Mistake Satire on President Trump for Real News

Submitted by benton on Thu, 03/09/2017 - 07:04

A Little Part of the First Amendment Dies at FCC Oversight Hearing

The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on oversight of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, March 8. A good time was had by all. The committee’s senators highlighted a wide range of issues during the 2+ hour hearing. Here we focus on the First Amendment, broadband deployment, network neutrality, privacy, and the future makeup of the FCC. In an op-ed published in The Hill, former-FCC Commissioner Michael Copps urged new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to speak out in defense of the First Amendment and freedom of the press. As a FCC Commissioner, Pai said, “In my view, anyone who has the privilege of serving at the FCC—any preacher with a pulpit, if you will—has the duty to speak out whenever Americans’ First Amendment rights are at stake.” With President Donald Trump calling journalists “the enemy of the American people”, Copps and others are looking to the nation’s top communications regulator to declare the government has no place pressuring media organizations. In his opening remarks, Committee Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL) said, “Ultimately, for this senator, the success or failure of the commission rests not on the fulfillment of special interest wish lists, but on how those who are least able to protect themselves have been treated and whether first amendment rights, including those of journalists, are vigorously protected.” During the hearing, Senators Tom Udall (D-NM) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) pressed Chairman Pai to affirm his support of a free press, but Pai repeatedly refused to directly answer whether he agreed or disagreed with the President. Instead Pai said, “I don’t want to wade into the larger political debates, but I will simply reaffirm the quotes that you offered from last year and the year before.” Sen. Udall pressed Pai saying, “You refuse to answer that, about the media being the enemy of the American people.” Later Sen Hassan also returned to the issue saying, “I’d just like to give you another chance, because it seems to me that if you’re an outspoken defender of the free press, that should be a pretty easy question for you.” “No,” Pai answered. “I believe that every American enjoys the protections of the First Amendment offered by the Constitution.” Sen. Hassan said she wished she had gotten a different response.

6 changes the FCC has made in just six weeks

Here's some of what the Federal Communications Commission has done under President Donald Trump:

Set aside a key Internet privacy rule. The FCC voted 2-to-1 to temporarily stay a data security regulation within a set of new privacy rules, passed in October 2016. That provision would have subjected Internet service providers (ISPs) to different privacy standards than web sites, apps and other Net players.
Ended Zero-Rating Investigation. An FCC report issued before Chairman Tom Wheeler left office in January found that free data plans such as AT&T and Verizon may violate the agency's Net Neutrality rules, officially called the Open Internet rules, passed in 2015. Last month, Pai ended the investigation, saying that the practices enhanced competition and were popular with consumers. But critics called the move an initial offensive on the Net neutrality rules as a whole.
Blocked approval of nine companies from Lifeline. Chairman Pai revoked the designation of nine companies as providers to the Lifeline plan, which subsidizes broadband service for low-income Americans. Like the Zero-Rating report, the Lifeline approval was a last-minute action by the Wheeler commission, Pai said at the time, and "should not bind us going forward."
Approved broadband and wireless access. The commission over the last month approved $2 billion to improve rural broadband access and $453 million to improve wireless connectivity in rural America and in tribal lands.
Made public items on its monthly agenda. Chairman Pai has begun posting the text of items to be considered by the commission on the agency's blog. In the past, Pai and fellow Republican commissioner Michael O'Rielly criticized Wheeler for not making agenda items public.
Removed the set-top box rule from consideration. Before the first meeting he chaired, Pai removed from the agenda an order that would require pay-TV providers make free apps so subscribers could watch programming without a set-top box.