July 2017

Op-ed: Congress should pass a strong net neutrality law

[Commentary] Minority-owned small businesses need two things to compete and thrive in an economy that is dominated more and more each year by global megafirms: a level playing field where everyone plays by the same rules of the road and stable and certain regulations that maximize their ability to invest and grow. This is true in the brick and mortar business world and even more so in the increasingly vital digital world, where a handful of dominant tech giants can use monopoly control over gateway services like search and social media and their ability to mine and exploit massive troughs of consumer data to choke off competition. That’s why the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to reform the internet regulations known as “net neutrality” is so important.

Americans deserve a permanent, stable and evenhanded net neutrality law that protects our data and fair competition online. That is something that can only be accomplished by Congress, where bipartisan support clearly exists to make net neutrality the law of the land. A law would put net neutrality beyond politics, eliminate the need to rely on legal contortions like Title II, and boost fair competition and equal opportunity everywhere online.

[Harry C. Alford is president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.]

A people-owned internet exists. Here is what it looks like

[Commentary] Although the fight for an open internet tends to have Silicon Valley tech bros at the forefront, it’s a racial justice issue; arbitrary powers for corporations tend not to help marginalized populations. It’s a rural justice issue, too.

The big service providers pushing the deregulation spree are the same companies that have so far refused to bring broadband to less-dense areas. They are holding under-served communities hostage by proposing a deal: roll back rights to private, open media, and we’ll give you cheaper internet. Trump’s Republican party is taking the bait. Up in the mountains west of me, a decade and a half ago, the commercial internet service providers weren’t bringing high-speed connectivity to residents, so a group of neighbors banded together and created their own internet cooperative. Big providers love making their jobs sound so complicated that nobody else could do it, but these people set up their own wireless network, and they still maintain it. Of course, their service remains pretty rudimentary; the same can’t be said of Longmont (CO), city 20 minutes from where I live in the opposite direction. There, the city-owned NextLight fiber network provides some of the fastest connectivity in the country for a reasonable price. In Longmont, all the surveillance and anti-neutrality stuff simply isn’t relevant.

Whatever happens in Washington, we can start building an internet that respects our rights on the local level. What would be the best route for creating community broadband in your community?

[Nathan Schneider teaches media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder]

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is ‘looking closely’ at online sales taxes

The Trump administration is weighing whether to support online sales taxes that could give state governments greater flexibility in their budgets. Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee July 25, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the White House “is looking very closely at this issue” and that it intends to “come out with a position shortly.”

Sec Mnuchin said that the policy could be an important way for states to fund infrastructure — an issue that President donald Trump has touted as a key part of his agenda with a $1 trillion spending plan. Some analysts have questioned the feasibility of that plan because it would cut federal investments in infrastructure by tens of billions of dollars. But allowing states to require companies to collect and remit taxes on online sales could help make up some of the shortfall.

New TSA rule for screening large electronics to expand to all U.S. airports

Passengers at all US airports will soon face new measures for screening electronic devices bigger than a cellphone. Security officers will ask travelers in regular lanes to take all larger devices out of their bag and put them in a bin by themselves, similar to the screening of most travelers' laptops. Officials say it gives X-ray screeners a clearer picture of the devices. The change won't apply to pre-check lanes. The Transportation Security Administration said the new procedure will go nationwide in the coming weeks and months. TSA has been testing it at 10 airports for more than a year. The Department of Homeland Security has been changing rules for electronics on international flights because of the threat that terrorists could hide bombs inside laptop or tablet computers.

GAO Report: Internet of Things: Communities Deploy Projects by Combing Federal Support with Other Funds and Expertise

Communities are increasingly deploying IoT devices generally with a goal of improving livability, management, service delivery, or competitiveness. GAO was asked to examine federal support for IoT and the use of IoT in communities. This report describes: (1) the kinds of efforts that selected federal agencies have undertaken to support IoT in communities and (2) how selected communities are using federal funds to deploy IoT projects.

GAO reviewed documents and interviewed officials from 11 federal agencies identified as having a key role in supporting IoT in communities, including agencies that support research or community IoT efforts or that have direct authority over IoT issues. GAO interviewed a non-generalizeable sample of representatives from multiple stakeholder groups in four communities, selected to include a range of community sizes and locations and communities with projects that used federal support. GAO also reviewed relevant literature since 2013 and discussed federal efforts and community challenges with 11 stakeholders from academia and the private sector, selected to reflect a range of perspectives on IoT issues. GAO requested comments on a draft of this product from 11 federal agencies. Five agencies provided technical comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate. Six agencies did not provide comments.

Facebook Shells Out $500,000 For Project to Fight Election Hacking

Facebook is sponsoring the efforts of former Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney campaign managers to combat hacking and disinformation campaigns designed to interfere with elections. Facebook’s chief security officer Alex Stamos announced the company’s $500,000 investment in the effort, called Defending Digital Democracy, today during a keynote at the security conference Black Hat. The project was launched last month by a Harvard University group and Stamos is a member of the group’s advisory committee.

“Our goal is to build an information sharing organization that includes political parties, campaigns, state and local election officials, and tech companies,” Stamos said. The information sharing unit will be modeled on similar efforts within the tech industry to share threat intelligence. Facebook and other major tech companies like Microsoft and Twitter use these kinds of partnerships to share information on terrorist threats, revenge porn, and child exploitation. “If one company detects an attack they can immunize others very quickly,” Stamos said. But Defending Digital Democracy plans to incorporate data not just from participating tech companies—executives from Google and the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike are also on the advisory board—but from election officials as well.

Eric Trump Decries Fake News-Driven 'Witch Hunt'

The latest fundraising letter from the Trump Make America Great Again Committee (the RNC and Trump for President) is under the salutation of Eric Trump, son of the journalist-bashing president, who joins in the bashing. "What we’re witnessing is a concerted effort by the Fake News Media and bureaucrats to delegitimize a duly elected president and the millions of Americans who proudly cast their votes for my father," the email read, with the kicker: "But we're not letting the witch hunters win." He accused Democrats of "screaming RUSSIA" rather than facing up to their election loss at his father's hands. He asks for a dollar donation to show the witch-hunting media that his father's movement is unstoppable.

Celebrating the 27th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act

On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became the law of the land. This landmark legislation gave the Federal Communications Commission a mandate to ensure access to telecommunications by Americans with hearing and speech disabilities.

Title IV of the ADA requires the FCC to ensure that nationwide telecommunications relay services are available for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, or who have a speech disability to communicate with other individuals in a manner that is functionally equivalent to people who use voice telephone services. In 2010, with passage of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), Congress authorized the distribution of free communications equipment to low-income individuals who are deaf-blind. The FCC used this authority to develop the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program, also known as "iCanConnect." Since 2012, iCanConnect has provided the equipment needed to make communications services accessible to low-income individuals who have both significant vision loss and significant hearing loss. Among other things, this program has enabled people who are deaf-blind and were unable to access telecommunications relay services to now do so. Although iCanConnect started as a pilot FCC program, it became permanent as of July 1, 2017. Through iCanConnect, relay service programs, and other accessibility initiatives under the ADA and CVAA, the FCC is working to ensure that all Americans have equal access to essential telecommunications services so that everyone can take full advantage of all the latest life-enhancing innovations.

An OTI Experiment: Open Source Surveillance Detection

The Open Technology Institute team did a technical experiment at this Spring’s March for Science in Washington (DC) to try and answer these questions and explore new ways of detecting when your cell phone is being surveilled. The increasingly broad use of cell site simulators by law enforcement is controversial for many reasons. As a general matter, the devices themselves indiscriminately invade the privacy of everyone around them because they connect to, and can capture data from, all phones within their range. But the devices have also been used in controversial ways. In particular, they have been deployed disproportionately in areas made up predominantly of people of color.

We decided to conduct an experiment to see whether and how one might be able to detect the use of cell site simulators during a large protest. In particular, OTI conducted a spectrum survey at the March for Science in April 2017 to experiment with ways to identify these devices. Although our results were inconclusive, they gave us new insights into how best to tackle this problem, insights that we and others can apply to future experiments with the same goal: developing tools that give us the power to watch the watchers.