Robert Osborne, movie connoisseur who offered fascinating history as host of Turner Classic Movies
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017
Today's Events
WIRETAP MISDIRECT
White House Rejects Comey’s Assertion That Wiretapping Claim Is False [links to New York Times]
Fact-Checking Trump’s Defenses of His Wiretapping Claim [links to New York Times]
Why does Trump think his phones were tapped? An investigation. [links to Washington Post]
DHS head: Trump has ‘convincing’ wiretap proof [links to Hill, The]
House Oversight Committee Chairman Chaffetz: 'I have not seen anything' to back Trump's wiretapping claim [links to Hill, The]
Op-Ed: 3 reasons we should take Trump's word on wiretapping ... for now [links to Hill, The]
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
It's urgent that Ajit Pai voices his support for a free press - Michael Copps op-ed
President Trump meets with FCC Chairman Pai
Putin destroyed Russia’s independent press. Trump seems to want the same. - Margaret Sullivan, WaPo
Spicer clashes with press over access to President Trump
The attack on Jeff Sessions is part of the new McCarthyism - WaPo op-ed
Russian Hackers Said to Seek Hush Money From Liberal Groups
Rep Pelosi says the media were ‘accomplices’ to Russia. Ensue outrage? [links to Benton summary]
Can President Trump outlast the White House press corps? - analysis [links to Benton summary]
White House spokeswoman: Media loves to create 'false narrative' against President Trump [links to Benton summary]
How to take a good picture at a White House briefing where cameras are banned [links to Washington Post]
So now the Trump White House hearts the New York Times [links to Washington Post]
The astounding political divide over what it means to be ‘American’ [links to Washington Post]
No other Republicans are willing to match Trump’s anti-media swagger. That’s becoming a problem. [links to Benton summary]
Inside Trump’s fury: The president rages at leaks, setbacks and accusations [links to Washington Post]
SPECIAL ISSUE OF “THE NATION”
Is There a Business Model For Serious Journalism in the Age of Trump? [links to Nation, The]
Trump Versus the Media: How to Cover a Hostile President [links to Nation, The]
Progressives Need to Build Their Own Media [links to Nation, The]
The Media’s Addiction to False Equivalencies Has Left Them Vulnerable to Trump [links to Nation, The]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
FCC should not leave broadband privacy rules to FTC - FTC Commissioner McSweeny op-ed
FCC Rule Repeal Won’t Kill Privacy Protections - Hal Singer op-ed
Ranking Digital Rights Partners with Consumer Reports to Set Standards for Privacy and Security - press release [links to Benton summary]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Public interest groups urge officials to protect net neutrality
FCC Chairman Pai Tells Congress Closing Digital Divide is Top Priority - press release
The Battle for the Internet in Rural America [links to Benton summary]
How the internet will become the ‘exanet’ - AEI op-ed [links to Benton summary]
Sprint’s long VoIP patent war leads to $140M verdict against Time Warner Cable [links to Benton summary]
Amazon Web Services Outing Has Us Asking: Are We Breaking The Internet? [links to Fast Company]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
The FCC is set to begin the final phase of its 600 MHz incentive auction process, with the assignment portion [links to RCR Wireless]
Google may have missed a big chance to become a major smartphone maker [links to Washington Post]
AT&T’s wireless local loop trials continue in 2 locations [links to Benton summary]
802.eleventy what? A deep dive into why Wi-Fi kind of sucks [links to Ars Technica]
CONTENT
DRM in HTML5 is a victory for the open Web, not a defeat [links to Ars Technica]
Facebook, Rushing Into Live Video, Wasn’t Ready for Its Dark Side [links to Benton summary]
Why Music Ownership Matters [links to Smart Set]
Waze and other traffic dodging apps prompt cities to game the algorithms [links to USAToday]
How The Internet Fueled The Rise In Hate Crimes In California [links to Fast Company]
OWNERSHIP
The Myth of Data Monopoly: Why Antitrust Concerns About Data Are Overblown - ITIF analysis [links to Benton summary]
The World’s Top Tech Investor Is Betting Big on Trump -- Including Sprint Merger? [links to Benton summary]
Facebook's officially a media company. Time to act like one. [links to Wired]
Comcast NBCU Launches Program to Assist Startups [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
JOURNALISM
Facebook begins flagging 'disputed' (fake) news [links to Benton summary]
The New York Times: All of the Tweets That Are Fit to Print [links to AdWeek]
NYT columnist urges IRS employees to unlawfully leak Trump's tax returns [links to Hill, The]
TELEVISION
LRG: Households with Netflix Now Surpass Those With DVR [links to telecompetitor]
OPEN GOVERNMENT
State, Local Officials Question Open Data Directives Under Trump [links to Government Technology]
The Government’s Secret Wiki for Intelligence [links to Atlantic, The]
EDUCATION
Smart Ed-Tech Strategy That Comes From the Classroom [links to Education Week]
ADVERTISING
Google is hiring a head of Republican political advertising [links to Vox]
DIVERSITY
How white women in tech can harness their privilege to help create diversity [links to Vox]
LABOR
Trump’s new travel ban raises the same Silicon Valley objections [links to Washington Post]
Trump’s Immigration Policy Threatens Asians Working in Silicon Valley [links to Benton summary]
POLICYMAKERS
White House Selects Deputy CTO from Peter Thiel's Rolodex [links to nextgov]
USTelecom Names Government Affairs SVP [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Turkey to Investigate Antitrust Complaint Against Google [links to New York Times]
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COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
URGENT THAT PAI VOICES SUPPORT FOR A FREE PRESS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Michael Copps]
[Commentary] No citizen should be denied the news and information needed to participate in our democracy. Our freedoms of speech and expression are inextricably linked to freedom of the press and an uninhibited, competitive, and vibrant marketplace of ideas. But freedom of the press is in jeopardy from a president who repeatedly calls our media “the enemy of the American people,” and by others in government who are failing in their duty to protect our liberties. The new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, has been an eloquent spokesman for freedom of the press. I’m confident he agrees that we should not foreclose any points of view unless they pose a threat of violence. Just last year, he said, “I think it's dangerous, frankly, that we don't see more often people espousing the First Amendment view that we should have a robust marketplace of ideas where everybody should be willing and able to participate.” No one person – not even the president – should have a monopoly on our national discourse. Pai also once 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.” Chairman Pai, we need to hear from you now.
[Michael Copps served on the Federal Communications Commission from 2001–11, and as acting chairman for a period in 2009. He is a special adviser for Common Cause.]
benton.org/headlines/its-urgent-ajit-pai-voices-his-support-free-press | Hill, The
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TRUMP-PAI MEETING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Harper Neidig]
President Donald Trump met with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. “Chairman Pai had a warm meeting with President Trump this afternoon, in which they reconnected for the first time since Chairman Pai was elevated to head the FCC," an agency spokesman said. "No proceedings pending at the FCC were discussed.” Chairman Pai is set to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee on March 8 for an oversight hearing.
benton.org/headlines/president-trump-meets-fcc-chairman-pai | Hill, The
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PUTIN DESTROYED RUSSIA'S INDEPENDENT PRESS. TRUMP WANTS THE SAME.
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Margaret Sullivan]
[Commentary] While no one is predicting car bombings or poisonings of American journalists, it’s not much of a stretch to see similarities between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attitude. Both leaders want a compliant press and are willing to take action toward getting it — some, of course, more extreme than others. Russians, overwhelmingly, get their news from TV. “Imagine you have two dozen TV channels and it is all Fox News,” said former deputy energy minister Vladi¬mir Milov, now a Putin critic. The tight control is effective: Putin has approval ratings of over 80 percent — ratings that Trump would, metaphorically speaking, kill for. Russia may not be the worst place in the world for journalists, but it is very bad nonetheless. Trump’s admiration for Putin becomes even more troubling when paired with his own moves to stamp out independent journalism through disparagement, denial of access, favoritism and blacklisting. “For Putin, there has been no greater obsession in controlling the culture than in controlling the media,” said Joel Simon, author and executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. For America under Trump, that’s a cautionary tale.
benton.org/headlines/putin-destroyed-russias-independent-press-trump-seems-want-same | Washington Post
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SPICER CLASHES WITH PRESS OVER ACCESS TO TRUMP
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jonathan Easley]
White House press secretary Sean Spicer defended the administration’s unconventional briefing methods at an off-camera gaggle with reporters who expressed frustration over a lack of access to the president. Rather than hold a traditional televised Q&A with reporters, Spicer briefed the media off-camera at the White House. That angered some in the press, who also expressed frustration that there had been no sightings of the president on a day when he had signed a highly anticipated executive order. “Will we be hearing from the president this week since we didn’t today?” one reporter asked. “I’m sure at some point we’ll do something ... a photo spray,” Spicer responded. “We have a pretty good track record of making the president available to folks.” “It’s unusual,” the reporter shot back. “Everything is closed. Normally they have a photo spray or something,” American Urban Radio Networks reporter April Ryan said. “Don’t give me this ‘normally we do,’” Spicer shot back. “I made it very clear at the beginning of this April that we’d have some things on camera, some things off. Last week, the president traveled two days, he had the [speech before the] joint session [of Congress]. We briefed every day.” "It’s not about us; it’s about the American public seeing their president,” Ryan responded.
benton.org/headlines/spicer-clashes-press-over-access-trump | Hill, The
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ATTACK ON SESSION PART OF NEW MCCARTHYISM
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Marc Thiessen]
[Commentary] Here is what Attorney General Jeff Sessions should have said when he stepped up to the podium and addressed reporters last week at the Justice Department: “At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” Sessions is the victim of the type of McCarthyite character assassination that the left used to condemn. Remember when accusing people without evidence of coordinating with the Kremlin was frowned upon? No longer, apparently. In fact, what Sessions faced may be worse than McCarthyism. At least McCarthy was right when he claimed that there were Russian spies in the State Department (see Hiss, Alger, among others). On “Meet the Press” this weekend, former Obama director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. declared that the US intelligence community he headed until a few weeks ago had found “no evidence” of any collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence. No evidence.
[Thiessen is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush]
benton.org/headlines/attack-jeff-sessions-part-new-mccarthyism | Washington Post
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RUSSIAN HACKERS SAID TO SEEK HUSH MONEY FROM LIBERAL GROUPS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Michael Riley]
Russian hackers are targeting US progressive groups in a new wave of attacks, scouring the organizations’ e-mails for embarrassing details and attempting to extract hush money, according to two people familiar with probes being conducted by the FBI and private security firms. At least a dozen groups have faced extortion attempts since the US presidential election, apparently. The ransom demands are accompanied by samples of sensitive data in the hackers’ possession. In one case, a non-profit group and a prominent liberal donor discussed how to use grant money to cover some costs for anti-Trump protesters. The identities were not disclosed, and it’s unclear if the protesters were paid. At least some groups have paid the ransoms even though there is little guarantee the documents won’t be made public anyway. Demands have ranged from about $30,000 to $150,000, payable in untraceable bitcoins, apparently.
benton.org/headlines/russian-hackers-said-seek-hush-money-liberal-groups | Bloomberg
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
FCC SHOULD NOT LEAVE BROADBAND PRIVACY RULES TO FTC
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission decided to put on hold a portion of its historic privacy rule approved just a few months ago – the part dealing with data security. Congress is considering whether to use the Congressional Review Act to eliminate the FCC broadband privacy rules in their entirety – a move that would also prevent the FCC from issuing similar rules in the future. The rationale offered for all this action is that the rule is not consistent with how the Federal Trade Commission protects consumer privacy and data security – and that Internet service providers (your cable and wireless companies) are, therefore, being subjected to different requirements than other companies and platforms on the Internet (the “edge providers”). In the words of Acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, “The federal government shouldn’t favor one set of companies over another." But here’s the thing: The Federal Trade Commission does not have jurisdiction over the security and privacy practices of broadband, cable and wireless carriers.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-should-not-leave-broadband-privacy-rules-ftc | Hill, The
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FCC RULE REPEAL WON'T KILL PRIVACY PROTECTIONS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Hal Singer]
[Commentary] When it comes to using your data from Web browsing and app usage, the Federal Trade Commission has been the regulatory cop on the beat. Determined to be relevant in the digital economy, the Federal Communications Commission created its own, radically different set of privacy regulations targeting just Internet service providers. By requiring an Internet service provider’s customers to give permission for their data to be used, the FCC’s new privacy rules subject ISPs to a different and more restrictive set of regulations than their online advertising rivals. If and when the FCC’s new privacy rules are overruled, the statute that empowers the agency to police privacy abuses by ISPs will still apply. And nothing prevents the FCC from designing a different (and more symmetric) regulatory standard. Repeal of the FCC’s new rules will simply restore the regulatory environment that existed for more than 18 months between its reclassification decision and its privacy rules. Given the myriad layers of protections and regulatory options, the notion that repeal would leave the ISPs without any privacy regulator is patently false.
[Hal Singer is a principal at Economists Incorporated and a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute.]
benton.org/headlines/fcc-rule-repeal-wont-kill-privacy-protections | Multichannel News
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
NET NEUTRALITY LETTER
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Harper Neidig]
A coalition of 171 public interest groups sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission and Senate leaders urging them not to dismantle the net neutrality rules from 2015. The ACLU, the Benton Foundation, Free Press, MoveOn.org, and Public Knowledge were among the groups signing on to the letter favoring the regulations, which prohibit internet service providers from discriminating against traffic to certain sites. “Protecting net neutrality is crucial to ensuring that the internet remains a central driver of economic growth and opportunity, job creation, education, free expression, and civic organizing for everyone,” the letter reads. The message was addressed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) and Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL). “In order to promote continued economic, social, and political growth and innovation, it is imperative that the internet remain open and accessible to all people in the future,” the groups wrote.
benton.org/headlines/public-interest-groups-urge-officials-protect-net-neutrality | Hill, The | read the letter
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PAI LETTERS TO CONGRESS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai sent letters to 30 senators on February 21, 2017, in response to their February 2, 2017 letter, which urged continued focus on ensuring access to mobile broadband services in rural America and closing the digital divide as a top priority for the FCC. Chairman Pai said closing the digital divide is his top priority, and that is why he scheduled a vote on the second phase of the Mobility Fund for the FCC’s February meeting. Chairman Pai also sent similar letters to Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Reps. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) and Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH) on February 21, 2017, in response to their January 25, 2017 letter, which urged the FCC to move forward with the Mobility Fund Phase II auction.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-pai-tells-congress-closing-digital-divide-top-priority | Federal Communications Commission
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