BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017
Today's Event -- "The fight to Preserve a Free and Open Internet" -- https://www.benton.org/node/262367
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
This is not okay - Washington Post editorial
A quick guide to President Trump’s false Twitter claims on July 25 - analysis [links to Benton summary]
President Trump just revealed a covert CIA program — over Twitter [links to Vox]
Sen Strange blames media for Trump-Sessions tension [links to Hill, The]
Manafort testifies to Senate Intelligence Committee, turns over notes from Trump Tower meeting with Russian lawyer [links to Washington Post]
Senate Judiciary subpoenas Manafort [links to Hill, The]
After Trump Injects Politics Into Speech, Boy Scouts Face Blowback [links to New York Times]
Trump's controversial remarks to Boy Scouts follow invitation from AT&T's Stephenson [links to Los Angeles Times]
NET NEUTRALITY
Net Neutrality Headlines FCC Oversight and Reauthorization Hearing
Facebook, Google and others are in a lose-lose position with an upcoming congressional network neutrality hearing
Verizon argues throttling video is allowed under net neutrality rules
Twitter faces new criticism from Congress amid charges it briefly blocked net neutrality critics
'Confused' Public Needs Help on Net Neutrality, Rep Brooks Says [links to Benton summary]
Michael Powell Tells Small Operators that Title II Would Be a Disaster for Industry and US [links to Multichannel News]
NAACP’s Fred Royal: Save the Internet - for all Americans [links to Journal Sentinel]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Broadband Expansion Initiatives Lack Accountability, Rural Advocates Say
Nonprofit group sues President Trump over infrastructure council [links to Benton summary]
Louisville’s Award-Winning Redlining Map Helps Drive Digital Inclusion Efforts [links to Benton summary]
Why Google Fiber Failed to Disrupt the ISPs [links to Benton summary]
Notice of Funds Availability: RUS Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program - public notice [links to Benton summary]
Broadband to entire county is a step closer [links to Pope County Tribune]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
How Smart Devices Could Violate Your Privacy
Dust isn’t the only thing your Roomba is sucking up. It’s also gathering maps of your house. [links to Washington Post]
Her dilemma: Do I let my employer microchip me? [links to Washington Post]
House Homeland Security Committee to consider bill to revamp Department of Homeland Security cyber team [links to Hill, The]
Worried about election hacking, LA County officials are turning to hackers for help [links to Los Angeles Times]
Take 30 voting machines. Add hackers. Mix. [links to USAToday]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FirstNet is Developing An Applications Ecosystem With Public Safety - press release [links to Benton summary]
Is a Verizon FirstNet Plan in the Works? FCC Letter Seeks Clarification [links to Benton summary]
New Jersey to Transform Communications for Public Safety [links to FirstNet]
OWNERSHIP
Inside Sinclair: CEO Nixes Fox News Rival Rumors, Talks Tribune & Big Ambition for Broadcast Biz
Odds of Sprint being acquired 'more than 70%': New Street Research [links to Fierce]
Why Amazon and Google Are Two Peas from the Same Monopolist Pod [links to Scott Cleland]
SoftBank Takes Stake in Roomba-Maker iRobot [links to Bloomberg]
CONTENT
In the Eyes of the Copyright Office, the Content Industries Prevails over Users’ Rights to Unlock [links to Public Knowledge]
1 in 4 black Americans have faced online harassment because of their race or ethnicity [links to Pew Research Center]
3 Ways Facebook Can Jump Into the News Business [links to Wrap, The]
Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg clash over the future of artificial intelligence [links to Los Angeles Times]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Remarks of FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly Before the Free State Foundation - speech [links to Benton summary]
LABOR
The 25 highest paid executives in cable, telecom and wireless [links to Fierce]
Op-Ed: We have unrealistic expectations of a tech-driven future utopia [links to Vox]
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
House to vote on proposals to cut the Congressional Budget Office’s funding and eliminate its budget analysis division [links to Hill, The]
Daniel Lyons -- Reauthorization: FCC process reform comes again before Congress [links to American Enterprise Institute]
POLICYMAKERS
White House press aide Michael Short resigns amid shakeup [links to Hill, The]
Conflicting reports emerge over firing of White House press aide [links to Hill, The]
Senate Dems warn they will block recess appointments [links to Hill, The]
Former FCC Staffer Terry Lynn Matsumoto Killed in Washington, D.C. [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
Former Congressman Jason Chaffetz still can’t stand poor people with smartphones [links to Verge, The]
COMPANY NEWS
President Trump Says Apple CEO Has Promised to Build Three Manufacturing Plants in U.S. [links to Wall Street Journal]
Netflix is getting a big boost in subscribers from mobile [links to Vox]
Adobe to pull plug on Flash, ending an era [links to Reuters]
E-commerce has been blamed for the struggles of retail real estate, but is proving to be a boon for owners of data centers and cell towers [links to Wall Street Journal]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
China says VPN crackdown aimed at 'cleaning' the internet [links to CNN]
Google Fights Against Canada's Order to Change Global Search Results [links to Benton summary]
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COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
THIS IS NOT OKAY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] When President Donald Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a tweet July 25 for not aggressively investigating Hillary Clinton, most attention focused, understandably, on the implications for Sessions. Yet even more alarming than the president’s assault on his own attorney general is President Trump’s return to the “lock her up” theme of his 2016 campaign. Members of Congress who are, properly, investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 race have not questioned President Trump’s legitimacy. Hillary Clinton herself graciously conceded. The FBI thoroughly investigated her e-mail practices and found no basis to prosecute. Yet President Trump now attacks Sessions for taking “a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes,” implying that a politically inspired re-investigation might help the attorney general keep his job. It is disgusting. What’s at stake is much more than the careers of any particular attorney general or special counsel. The United States has been a role model for the world, and a source of pride for Americans, because it has strived to implement the law fairly. When he attacks that process and seeks revenge on his opponents, President Trump betrays bedrock American values. It’s crucial that other political leaders say so.
benton.org/headlines/not-okay | Washington Post
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NET NEUTRALITY
FCC OVERSIGHT HEARING
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
The House Commerce Committee’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a hearing on July 25, 2017. https://energycommerce.house.gov/hearings-and-votes/hearings/oversight-a... Lawmakers came to talk Federal Communications Commission oversight; they came to talk FCC oversight; but as with most telecommunications policy discussions these days, network neutrality grabbed the headlines. Full Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) announced that he will hold a hearing on September 7 entitled “Ground Rules for the Internet Ecosystem.” He sent invitations to CEOs of leading tech companies -- including Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, and Netflix -- and broadband providers -- including Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, and Charter Communications -- requesting they testify. “A strong consensus is forming across party lines and across industries that it’s time for Congress to call a halt on the back-and-forth and set clear net neutrality ground rules for the internet,” said Chairman Walden. “In some form or another, we have been working for at least 20 years on the intertwined goals of incentivizing the huge investments needed to connect Americans, while keeping the internet open and protecting consumer privacy. With almost everyone in agreement about fundamental principles to prevent anti-competitive behavior such as throttling and blocking, I think we are closer than ever to achieving a lasting resolution. The time has come to get everyone to the table and get this figured out.” In a letter requesting their appearance, Chairman Walden said the open internet rules put in place during the Obama administration — which subject broadband providers to utility-like regulation — “disrupted the longstanding regulatory balance that for years allowed the internet to grow and thrive.” He added, “With your help, I know we can craft a fair, predictable and sustainable solution that not only benefits edge providers and internet service providers, but also the billions of consumers worldwide that deserve a free and open internet.” Chairman Walden is joined by his counterpart in the Senate, Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, in a desire to adopt legislation that will end the net neutrality debate. But these lawmakers so far have offered few specifics, and for the moment, they don’t have much Democratic support.
[much more at the URL below]
benton.org/headlines/net-neutrality-headlines-fcc-oversight-and-reauthorization-hearing | Benton Foundation | Subcommittee staff | Washington Post | B&C | The Hill | recode | ars technica | Fierce
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COMING NETWORK NEUTRALITY HEARING
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
A coming Congressional hearing on network neutrality has left the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Google and Netflix in a tough position: They can either subject their chief executives to a potential grilling — or sit it out and take plenty of political heat. If they sit out the hearing, they might send a poor political signal — to supporters and opponents alike — at a time when the Trump administration is preparing to scrap the US government’s current net neutrality rules. For the moment, tech giants don’t have much to say about their plans. Amazon, Facebook, Google and Netflix declined to say if they would dispatch their chief executives to Congress. They have until July 31 to contact the committee about their participation. Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, haven’t yet heard from those companies, either. But the House Commerce Committee did offer an early warning: “It is our expectation that the invited individuals will attend. These CEOs are in a unique position to provide important perspectives on issues they have long been publicly vocal on,” said a spokesman for House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). Tech giants that decline to attend the hearing — or try to send a lower-level executive — could incur the wrath of federal lawmakers, who are known to blast companies that don’t testify. Then again, appearing before Congress could subject the likes of Amazon’s Bezos or Netflix’s Hastings to tough, unwelcome questions — on issues that might not have to do with net neutrality at all.
benton.org/headlines/facebook-google-and-others-are-lose-lose-position-upcoming-congressional-network | Vox
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VERIZON ARGUES THROTTLING VIDEOS IS ALLOWED UNDER NN RULES
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Jacob Kastrenakes]
Recently, Verizon was caught and subsequently admitted to throttling all video traffic on its network. July 25, the company is finally addressing the potential network neutrality issue. Verizon said that its actions represented “reasonable network management,” which is an exception carved out under the 2015 net neutrality rules. "Video optimization is a non-discriminatory network management practice designed to ensure a high quality customer experience for all customers accessing the shared resources of our wireless network,” a spokesperson said. It’s pretty expected that Verizon would argue this. It said last week that its video throttling was a matter of “network testing” that would be “completed shortly,” and speeds since appear to have returned to normal. The trouble is, the order is a little vague on what constitutes “reasonable network management,” since the commission assumed it might take many different forms. But it has a handful of guidelines of what might and might not violate the exception. One important limitation: the practice must be “primarily motivated by a technical network management justification rather than other business justifications.”
benton.org/headlines/verizon-argues-throttling-video-allowed-under-net-neutrality-rules | Verge, The | B&C
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TWITTER FACES NEW CRITICISM FROM CONGRESS OVER NN
[SOURCE: Vox, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Sens Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) sharply rebuked Twitter following reports that the website briefly blocked its users from posting links to a blog post that criticized the US government’s network neutrality rules. Twitter previously had described the mishap as a glitch, but Sens Johnson and Blunt still penned a letter that slammed the company’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, for an incident that appeared to lawmakers to be “an affront to free expression.” The confusing saga began on July 12, the day that Twitter joined Facebook, Google and other tech giants for an online rally in defense of an open internet. But those who sought to share the company’s blog post could not do so on Twitter. For a time, the site marked the link as suspicious and blocked new tweets containing it. That immediately led to cries of censorship, given Twitter’s public participation in the day of action in support of net neutrality — and on the opposite side of the debate from AT&T. A Twitter spokesman at the time said the link was “erroneously caught in Twitter's anti-spam filters” and quickly remedied the mistake. But the fracas still managed to reach Capitol Hill, where Sens Johnson and Blunt on Tuesday described the incident in a letter to Dorsey as “disturbing.”
benton.org/headlines/twitter-faces-new-criticism-congress-amid-charges-it-briefly-blocked-net-neutrality | Vox
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MORE INTERNET/BROADBAND
BROADBAND EXPANSION INITIATIVES LACK ACCOUNTABILITY, RURAL ADVOCATES SAY
[SOURCE: Morning Consult, AUTHOR: Mariam Baksh]
Legislation that would give telecommunication companies tax breaks for expanding high-speed internet access doesn’t include proper oversight controls to ensure firms invest in areas where it’s most needed, public interest groups say. The pushback reflects a potentially divisive fight on an issue — expanding internet access to underserved areas — that generally has bipartisan support. The Gigabit Opportunity Act, sponsored by Sen Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), would provide state governors the flexibility to choose low-income areas to be designated as GO zones, investments for which telecoms could claim write-offs. Eligibility would also require states and municipalities to adopt model codes to “streamline” local regulations. Those codes are being written by the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. Some local entities are wary of pre-emption of their powers to set rates for pole attachments and other permitting procedures. The congressional proposals don’t address the real problem — lack of will by providers to invest in low-density areas where its hard to turn a profit, said Martha Duggan, senior director of regulatory affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “The irony is that we are the unserved communities, we want that connectivity,” Duggan said at the BDAC meeting. “I can tell you stories of municipalities that have offered zero-cost rates for pole attachments if the providers will come out and build in our areas. None have taken us up on that so far.”
benton.org/headlines/broadband-expansion-initiatives-lack-accountability-rural-advocates-say | Morning Consult
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
HOW SMART DEVICES COULD VIOLATE YOUR PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Rolling Stone, AUTHOR: Deanna Paul]
Where smart technologies are concerned, the expectation of privacy extends only from the consumer to machine. Once the machine communicates with an outside server – even where data is sent to a server controlled by the product's manufacturer – privacy is violated. Currently, law enforcement can obtain a search warrant compelling a third party to turn over data recorded by the smart device if the company can control or access the information. The Supreme Court has yet to consider a case that specifically addresses whether, in an era of modern technology where we regularly choose to give personal data to third parties, a person should have an expectation of privacy in the information. As the law stands, once information is voluntarily disclosed to a third party, he does not. One case currently pending at the Supreme Court may tee up the issue of the Third Party Doctrine in the digital age, but until the Court takes on such a case, this premise holds true. It seems the one thing technologists and lawyers alike agree on is that the "right" to privacy could be overcome by technology very soon. The danger is that the new standard will become: You have the right to remain silent, but your smart home does not.
benton.org/headlines/how-smart-devices-could-violate-your-privacy | Rolling Stone
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OWNERSHIP
INSIDE SINCLAIR
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Cynthia Littleton]
Of the many challenges Fox News Channel is facing amid a turbulent year, there’s one threat Rupert Murdoch can cross off the list: Sinclair Broadcast Group has no plans to launch a rival conservative-friendly TV network. Chris Ripley, CEO of the Hunt Valley (MD)-based TV-station giant, is ready to end months of speculation that his company was preparing to mount a competitive threat in the wake of its $3.9 billion deal to acquire Tribune Media in May. “After we acquired Allbritton [Communications] in 2014, we looked hard at launching a national cable news channel, but we decided the world didn’t need another cable news platform,” says Ripley, who makes clear that the rise of Donald Trump and the upheaval at Fox News haven’t changed his calculus. “Our strength is local news,” he maintains. “The market for national cable news is very well served.”
benton.org/headlines/inside-sinclair-ceo-nixes-fox-news-rival-rumors-talks-tribune-big-ambition-broadcast-biz | Variety
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