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  2. May 2017

May 2017

FreedomPop targets Lifeline providers with digital platform

FreedomPop is hoping to cash in on the Federal Communications Commission’s overhaul of the Lifeline program, which subsidizes telecommunications services for low-income consumers.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai directed the agency to eliminate the federal approval process for Lifeline service providers, effectively returning those processes to the state level. Critics say the move will require would-be service providers to undergo a lengthy and perhaps prohibitively burdensome course to extend offerings to Lifeline participants. But FreedomPop, an MVNO that provides wireless services in North America and Europe, is licensing its platform as a way for companies to bring offerings to market through Lifeline more simply and affordably. The company announced a deal with one Lifeline service provider, PWG Solutions, and said it will launch with a few more companies in the coming months.

“It’s pretty much impossible to get certified across 30 states, so you’ve got these (potential service providers) who are just stagnant,” FreedomPop CEO Stephen Stokols said. “Rather than just trying to come in and outdo them, we’re literally just going to empower them, basically extend our technology to these guys so they can modernize.” FreedomPop uses a freemium model to entice users, then upsells them into bigger packages or other value-added services such as additional local numbers for users in foreign lands or a “safety mode” that prevents overage charges. It sells handsets as well as SIM cards enabling customers to activate their own phones.

Education Groups Urge Leaders to Advance Digital Equity

CoSN and the Alliance for Excellent Education issued two complementary resources for school leaders to advance digital equity and increase broadband connectivity to students nationwide. Advancing Digital Equity and Closing the Homework Gap details the current state of broadband access, its adoption, and its barriers in US communities. The second brief, Advancing Digital Equity: An Update on the FCC’s Lifeline Program, recaps efforts to modernize the Lifeline Program, explains how these changes are at risk, and puts forth ways school leaders can stand up for the program and its positive impact on learning.

In the briefs, the groups underscore current data that paint the picture of broadband access and its implications:

  • The Pew Research Center found that 5 million households with school-age children do not have broadband access. Low-income families make up a heavy share of those households.
  • According to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 42 percent of teachers reported that their students lack sufficient access to technology outside of the classroom.
  • Results from CoSN’s 2016 Annual Infrastructure Survey show that 75 percent of district technology leaders ranked addressing the lack of broadband access outside of school as a “very important” or “important” issue for their district to address.
  • In the same survey, 68 percent of respondents reported that affordability is the greatest barrier to out-of-school broadband access.

Over time, the Lifeline Program has provided critical support for underserved Americans to help improve these trends.

Mobile Data Plan Survey: Users Not Thrilled with Unlimited Plans

Nearly six in 10 (58%) of mobile users in a nationwide mobile data plan survey would switch mobile services providers if they had more choice and control regarding how they used their data. That includes those with unlimited mobile data plans, according to the survey conducted by digital commerce technology provider Matrixx Software. Yet more revealing, more than half said they would switch data plans at least once a month if they could choose the plan they believe best meets their needs. Some said they would do so as often as once a day.

Chairmen Walden and Blackburn Announce Staff Additions to the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee

House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) announced the following staff announcements for the Communications and Technology Subcommittee:

  • Robin C. Colwell, Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology: Colwell will serve as Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology beginning in July. She has served as FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Advisor since December of 2014. Prior to that Robin served as a Legislative Counsel for Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and as a Counsel at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation’s Subcommittee on Tourism, Competitiveness, and Innovation.
  • Timothy J. Kurth, Senior Professional Staff, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology: Kurth returns to Capitol Hill after a career in the private sector. Kurth worked in Congress from 1995 - 2004, including as the senior advisor on technology and telecommunications issues for the Speaker of the House, Congressman Dennis Hastert (R–IL), and prior to that as Hastert’s legislative assistant during his time on the House Commerce Committee. Kurth began his career in Washington with stints at the U.S. Department of State, as well as interning in the leadership office of Congressman Bob Michel (R-IL).

Brookings
Wednesday, Jun 14, 2017
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT
https://www.brookings.edu/events/whats-next-for-global-internet-freedom-...

Internet freedom remains a significant challenge around the world. Highly restrictive countries, such as China and Iran, block residents from accessing search engines, social networks, and news organizations. The U.S. has previously supported the rights of all internet users to freedom of expression, assembly, and association online. However, the Obama administration’s internet freedom agenda has not yet been addressed by the Trump administration. How will the new administration balance internet freedom with its other foreign policy goals? How should the United States promote internet freedom through its trade partnerships?


May 26, 2017 (Attacks on the press are turning literal)

Headlines will return TUESDAY, May 30. On Monday, we remember more than one million men and women who died in active military service.

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2017

Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide https://www.benton.org/calendar/2017-05-26

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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
   Newly-elected Gianforte apologizes for alleged assault of journalist [links to Hill, The]
   Of what was Greg Gianforte ‘sick and tired’?
   Montana Gov. Steve Bullock: Gianforte lying about reporter fight [links to Hill, The]
   A Journalist Was Body Slammed, but Some Conservatives Want the News Media to Apologize [links to New York Times]
   Some conservatives justify 'manly' Montana candidate's alleged body-slam of 'snowflake' reporter [links to Los Angeles Times]
   Speaker Ryan: Gianforte should apologize for altercation with reporter [links to Hill, The]
   Rep Duncan Hunter on Gianforte: Violence 'not appropriate' unless reporter 'deserved it' [links to Hill, The]
   Sen Sasse: Gianforte doesn't understand First Amendment [links to Hill, The]
   Sen Jon Tester on Gianforte: Dealing with media ‘part of the job’ [links to Hill, The]
   Republicans blast Gianforte [links to Hill, The]
   How a GOP candidate’s alleged body slam of a reporter played out on the Trump Internet [links to Washington Post]
   Greg Gianforte's slam drives home intersection of tech, politics [links to USAToday]
   How Silicon Valley is trying to topple Trump — beginning with a special election in Montana [links to Vox]

COMMUNICATIONS AND DEMOCRACY
   Rough Treatment of Journalists in the Trump Era
   Committee to Protect Journalists: In America, attacks on the press are turning literal [links to Washington Post]
   Tracking Trump-era assault on press norms [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
   Op-ed: Journalism in the Age of the Body Slam [links to New York Times]
   ‘Anyone . . . with a pulse’: How a Russia-friendly adviser found his way into the Trump campaign
   Eli Pariser Predicted the Future. Now He Can’t Escape It. [links to Medium]
   Op-ed: Only civil legislators, willing to follow proper process and able to build broad consensus, are able to repair the long-term damage created by an uncivil president. [links to Washington Post]

CIVIC PARTICIPATION
   Someone impersonated them to slam the FCC’s net neutrality rules. Now they want answers.

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   Democrats want to turn net neutrality into the next GOP health-care debacle

MORE INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Cities Clamor for More Clout at FCC
   No Matter What Washington Does, One Nonprofit Is Closing the Digital Divide [links to Benton summary]

DIVERSITY
   Data Shows LGBTQ People are Nearly Invisible or Outdated Punchlines in Big Hollywood Movies [links to GLAAD]

JOURNALISM
   Here's why so much news seems to break late in the day [links to American Public Media]
   Jennifer Rubin: Fox News’s cognitive dissonance is on display [links to Washington Post]
   The Guy Who Helped Take Down Bill O’Rielly Is Now targeting Sean Hannity [links to Fast Company]

WIRELESS
   A third of Americans live in a household with three or more smartphones [links to Pew Research Center]
   Smartphone Ownership Now 2nd Behind TVs [links to TVNewsCheck]
   T-Mobile’s “Digits” program revamps the phone number [links to Benton summary]

LABOR
   The gig economy workforce will double in four years [links to Vox]

PRIVACY
   More Tech Reaction to Blackburn Privacy Bill [links to Benton summary]
   Rep Blackburn Defends Broadband Privacy Bill [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
   Data expungement: An argument for a limited right to be forgotten [links to International Association of Privacy Professionals]

SECURITY
   British Police Decry Apparent US Leaks Of Manchester Attack Evidence [links to National Public Radio]
   Statement from President Donald Trump on Manchester Leaks [links to White House, The]

CONTENT
   How Do You Fix Facebook’s Moderation’s Problem? Figure Out What Facebook is [links to Vox]
   Facebook is going to show you news that you normally avoid [links to Washington Post]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   FirstNet: Connecting EMS To Improve On-Scene Triage, Care and Safety [links to First Responder Network Authority]

HEALTH
   Are you addicted to your phone? Here's how to tell [links to USAToday]

FCC REFORM
   Creating an economics-sensitive zone at the FCC - Stuart Brotman op-ed [links to Benton summary]

POLICYMAKERS
   FCC Chairman Announces Carey Will Serve As Media Bureau Chief - press release

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Social media fills vacuum left by China’s ‘hollowed out’ press [links to Columbia Journalism Review]

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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

SICK AND TIRED
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Erik Wemple]
[Commentary] Montana GOP congressional candidate Greg Gianforte said of a Guardian reporter, “The last guy did the same damn thing.” From the looks of things, “the same damn thing” appears to boil down to asking questions of the candidate. Polite and relevant questions: Are they what had made Gianforte so “sick and tired”? Are polite and relevant questions what he was bemoaning when he talked about “the same damn thing”? Speaking of the news media as the people’s enemy and singling out reporters in menacing fashion at public events are both aspects of Trump’s trickle-down authoritarianism. He has done both. For decades, Republican candidates talked and talked and talked about the ravages of the so-called liberal media. Historians may look back at recent events — the manhandling of reporter Michelle Fields by a Trump campaign aide last year; the Jacobs confrontation — as the beginning of an action phase.
benton.org/headlines/what-was-greg-gianforte-sick-and-tired | Washington Post
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COMMUNICATIONS AND DEMOCRACY

ROUGH TREATMENT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jacey Fortin]
For those concerned about press freedom, the first months of the Trump administration have been troubling. Journalists have been yelled at, pepper-sprayed, pinned by security, and even arrested on the job. Now, one reporter has accused a Republican candidate of assault. Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the recent episodes were not enough to make any sweeping statements about the way journalists are being treated since President Trump took office. “But what’s certainly unprecedented in modern American history is the rhetoric: the way that Trump talks about the media, the constant verbal attacks and the framing of journalists as enemies and purveyors of fake news,” he said. Simon said the committee was gathering data to identify trends and patterns. He said the assault case was particularly alarming.
benton.org/headlines/rough-treatment-journalists-trump-era | New York Times
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CARTER PAGE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Tom Hamburger, Rosalind Helderman]
As part of its broader investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, the FBI continues to examine how Carter Page joined the campaign and what conversations he may have had with Russian officials about the effort to interfere with the election — with or without the knowledge of Donald Trump and his team — according to people familiar with the matter. The Senate Intelligence Committee has also zeroed in on Page, asking him for records of all his contacts with Russians during the campaign, all financial interactions he had with Russia and all communications he had with Trump campaign staff. The circumstances that led to Page’s easy access to the Trump campaign represents one of the main questions facing investigators: Were Trump’s connections to multiple Russia-friendly advisers mere coincidence, or evidence of a coordinated attempt to collude with a foreign government? Or were they the result of incompetent vetting that left a neophyte candidate vulnerable to influence from people with nefarious agendas? Regardless of the answer, the campaign’s previously unreported procedures for vetting Page and other advisers are greatly complicating matters for Trump’s presidency.
benton.org/headlines/anyone-pulse-how-russia-friendly-adviser-found-his-way-trump-campaign | Washington Post
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CIVIC PARTICIPATION

NET NEUTRALITY ANSWERS?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
More than a dozen people sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission saying that their names and contact information were improperly used as part of a widespread political campaign meant to discredit the commission's network neutrality rules. Calling on the FCC to investigate and delete the "dishonest and deceitful" messages made in their name, the citizens said officials cannot afford to ignore the flood of fake comments apparently designed "to manufacture false support for your plan to repeal net neutrality protections." "To see my good name used to present an opinion diametrically opposed to my own view on Net Neutrality makes me feel sad and violated," said Joel Mullaney, one of the people who signed the letter. "Whoever did this violated one of the most basic norms of our democratic society, that each of us have our own voice, and I am eager to know from what source the FCC obtained this falsified affidavit. I have been slandered."
benton.org/headlines/someone-impersonated-them-slam-fccs-net-neutrality-rules-now-they-want-answers | Washington Post | The Hill | The Verge | ars technica
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

NET NEUTRALITY FIGHT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Now that the Federal Communications Commission has released its official proposal to repeal network neutrality rules, Democrats are vowing to fight that measure in the courts, at the Federal Communications Commission, and in the realm of public opinion. Sensing they've hit on a white-hot campaign issue, Democrats are seeking to stir up a grass-roots firestorm around net neutrality that can thwart the GOP plan — or at least make it incredibly costly for Republicans to support. Democrats argue that Republicans want to strip consumers of key online protections and hand more power back to large Internet providers, and liken the issue to another hot-button topic: former president Obama's health-care law. “The more the public understands about what the Trump administration is trying to do to net neutrality, they'll understand that it's the same thing they're trying to do to the Affordable Care Act, to the Clean Air Act, to gun safety laws — and net neutrality is just another part of the very same story,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). By raising the issue of net neutrality to the level of health care, Democrats such as Sen Markey appear to believe they're in for similar victories on net neutrality. The decision reflects a doubling-down on a populist strategy — and it reflects how deeply they are convinced the public is already on their side.
benton.org/headlines/democrats-want-turn-net-neutrality-next-gop-health-care-debacle | Washington Post
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MORE INTERNET/BROADBAND

CITIES AND THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: Light Reading, AUTHOR: Mari Silbey]
The rules of broadband are changing, and local governments want a say in how they evolve. In an ex parte filing l with the Federal Communications Commission, several municipal officials, along with a representative of the National League of Cities , outlined a recent meeting with FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and a member of her legal staff. The city officials voiced their concern that the newly-formed Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) is lacking in representation from local municipal governments, and that industry executives and advisors make up an overwhelming proportion of the committee's membership. According to the letter, the officials "encouraged the Commission to work in the direction of partnership with, rather than preemption of, local officials, who share the Commission's goal of closing the digital divide." The National League of Cities notes that more local representatives have been appointed to BDAC working groups of late, but the organization argues that working group participation isn't enough and that the Commission should "increase the number and diversity of local officials on the BDAC to a level comparable with the number and diversity of industry officials."
benton.org/headlines/cities-clamor-more-clout-fcc | Light Reading
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POLICYMAKERS

MICHELLE CAREY
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that Michelle Carey to serve as chief of its Media Bureau, continuing the work she has been doing as acting chief. Before serving as acting chief, Carey served for six years as deputy chief of the bureau she now leads. She has also served as a senior advisor to the assistant secretary at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the Department of Commerce. Carey was also a senior legal advisor to then-FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and previously held senior leadership positions in the agency’s Wireline Competition Bureau. Carey received her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. from Georgetown University. The FCC’s Media Bureau plays a key role in promoting innovation in the media marketplace, as it develops, recommends, and administers the policy and licensing programs relating to the media industry, including cable television, broadcast television, and radio. It also handles post-licensing matters for satellite services and releases public reports on the data collected from the industry.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-announces-carey-will-serve-media-bureau-chief | Federal Communications Commission
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