July 2017

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2017

FCC Open Meeting today -- https://www.benton.org/calendar/2017-07-13

NETWORK NEUTRALITY
   Reports From the Day of Action for #NetNeutrality
   Information Laundering, Economists and Ajit Pai’s Race to Roll-Back the Obama-era FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules - research
   If FCC gets its way, we’ll lose a lot more than net neutrality
   Net Neutrality Is About Much More Than the Internet - Nation editorial [links to Benton summary]
   Why We Need Title II And Strong Net Neutrality Rules; Or, Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me. Fool Me Ever Time — I’m the FCC! - analysis
   Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian: net neutrality ‘continues to unite more Americans than divide them’ [links to Vox]
   Editorial: Day to support a free web [links to Times Sun]
   Editorial: Keep internet open [links to Lexington Herald Leader]
   Editorial: Preserve net neutrality [links to Register-Guard]
   Op-ed: Net Neutrality May Already Have Died [links to Huffington Post]
   Competitive Enterprise Institute op-ed: Net Neutrality Day Of Action Platitudes To Ensnare Corporate Proponents [links to Forbes]
   Fred Campbell: Is Twitter Blocking Net Neutrality Opinions It Doesn't Like? [links to Forbes]

OVERSIGHT
   House Democrats accuse GOP of trying to 'shield' FCC's network neutrality repeal from oversight

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   Shared Spectrum: Path to Wireless Expansion [links to Multichannel News]

SECURITY/PRIVACY
   FBI didn’t need warrant for stingray in attempted murder case, DOJ says [links to Ars Technica]
   NIST Seeks Comment on Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure/Workforce Development [links to National Institute of Standards and Technology]
   Verizon customer data — including phone numbers and PINs — exposed by vendor [links to Los Angeles Times]
   Public Knowledge Urges FCC to Investigate Verizon Customer Data Breach [links to Public Knowledge]
   Rep Ellison Statement on the Introduction of the Online Privacy Act (HR 3175) - press release

OWNERSHIP
   FTC, DOJ Give Liberty-GCI Deal Antitrust OK [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
   Chicago Sun-Times acquired by union-linked group

ACCESSIBILITY
   FCC Increases Amount Of Required Video Described Programming On Top-Rated Broadcast and Nonbroadcast Networks [links to Benton summary]

TELEVISION/RADIO
   Verizon to FCC: Online video providers should not be subject to cable regulation [links to Fierce]
   Op-ed: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is pushing identity politics—except at pledge time. [links to Wall Street Journal]

JOURNALISM
   Poll: Americans divided over news media’s coverage of President Trump [links to Benton summary]
   ‘You may actually learn a thing or two’: Sean Hannity’s message to the media, annotated [links to Washington Post]
   Behind the Scenes at 'Fox & Friends,' America's Most Influential Morning Show [links to Hollywood Reporter]

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Why blocked Twitter users are suing President Trump
   Majority of Trump Voters Don’t Regularly Read His Tweets [links to Morning Consult]
   How we’re helping cities to be more open [links to Sunlight Foundation]

POLICYMAKERS
   Ajit Pai: the man who could destroy the open internet [links to Benton summary]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Google wins challenge against 1.1 billion-euro French tax bill [links to Reuters]
   UK hospitals to receive £21m to increase cybersecurity at major trauma centres [links to Guardian, The]
   UK school clamps down on phones and Fitbits to ease body image worries [links to Guardian, The]
   EU regulators clamp down on social media searches on job applicants [links to Financial Times]

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NETWORK NEUTRALITY

A DAY OF ACTION
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
On July 12, 2017, some of the world's largest companies, activists, and citizens protested the Federal Communications Commission's proposal to rollback (well, gut, really) network neutrality protections adopted in 2017. Here's a look at the news of the day. [much more at the URL below]
https://www.benton.org/headlines/reports-day-action-netneutrality
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PAIS RACE TO ROLL BACK NN RULES
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Jeff Pooley, Dwayne Winseck]
[Commentary] The now-raging battle over the fate of landmark network neutrality rules adopted by the Obama-era Federal Communications Commission just two years ago is, at the same time, a war of ideas. On the front lines is a subterranean network of think tanks and hired-gun economists, lawyers, and others mobilizing their credentials to justify FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s sprint to reverse not just the net neutrality rules, but also a raft of measures on concentration in the broadband, mobile wireless, cable TV and broadcasting markets, broadband privacy and pricing, and on and on. If the rollback is successful, Pai’s FCC will deliver a regulatory agenda beyond the biggest telecom-ISP and media companies’ wildest dreams. Each step of the way, industry-friendly think tanks and front groups have commissioned academics to flood the ‘marketplace of ideas’ with corroborating ideas and ‘white papers,’ often without disclosure. What they’re paying for is the veneer of academic legitimacy.
[Jeff Pooley is Associate Professor and Chair of Media & Communication, Muhlenberg College, Allentown. Dwayne Winseck is Professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University, Ottawa, and Director of the Canadian Media Concentration Research (CMCR) Project.]
https://www.benton.org/blog/information-laundering-economists-and-ajit-p...
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IF FCC GETS ITS WAY, WELL LOSE A LOT MORE THAN NN
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
The Republican-led Federal Communications Commission is preparing to overturn the two-year-old decision that invoked the FCC's Title II authority in order to impose net neutrality rules. It's possible the FCC could replace today's net neutrality rules with a weaker version, or it could decide to scrap net neutrality rules altogether. Either way, what's almost certain is that the FCC will eliminate the Title II classification of Internet service providers. And that would have important effects on consumer protection that go beyond the core net neutrality rules that outlaw blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. Without Title II's common carrier regulation, the FCC would have less authority to oversee the practices of Internet providers like Comcast, Charter, AT&T, and Verizon. Customers and websites harmed by ISPs would also have fewer recourses, both in front of the FCC and in courts of law. Title II provisions related to broadband network construction, universal service, competition, network interconnection, and Internet access for disabled people would no longer apply. Rules requiring disclosure of hidden fees and data caps could be overturned, and the FCC would relinquish its role in evaluating whether ISPs can charge competitors for data cap exemptions.
benton.org/headlines/if-fcc-gets-its-way-well-lose-lot-more-net-neutrality | Ars Technica
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WHY WE NEED STRONG NN RULES
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] As we slog away once again on Federal Communication Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s summer blockbuster reboot “Net Neutrality: The Mummy Returns!,” it’s worth noting in passing the anniversary a previous Pai celebration of industry self-regulation, #DitchTheBox. I bring this up not merely as a fairly bitter bit of Cassandrafreude, but to remind everyone why only those who most desperately want to believe ever put any faith in “industry self-regulation” — especially when that industry is the cable industry. [A]s an industry, the major broadband providers have recognized that they need some kind of fig leaf concession (preferably cemented into law by a compliant Congress). And so we have seen the cable companies falling all over themselves to swear their undying support for net neutrality and promises to do nothing to harm the open Internet. So a brief review of the history of cable industry self-regulatory promises, and Chairman Pai’s willingness to believe them, seems in order for the day.
[Harold Feld is senior vice president at Public Knowledge]
benton.org/headlines/why-we-need-title-ii-and-strong-net-neutrality-rules-or-fool-me-twice-shame-me-fool-me | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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OVERSIGHT

CALL FOR FCC OVERSIGHT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Harper Neidig]
Top House Commerce Committee Democrats rebuked their GOP colleagues for failing to hold any oversight hearings of the Federal Communications Commission amid the FCC's efforts to strike network neutrality regulations. Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) and Rep Mike Doyle (D-PA), the top Democrat on the technology subcommittee, suggested in a letter that House Republicans are trying to “shield the FCC from having to explain its push to install such unpopular policies,” like the repeal of net neutrality rules. “This Committee has an obligation to perform oversight on behalf of the American people and ensure that the American people understand the consequences of the FCC’s actions,” they wrote in the letter to full Committee Chairman Greg benton.org/headlines/house-democrats-accuse-gop-trying-shield-fccs-network-neutrality-repeal-oversight | Hill, The | B&C
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SECURITY/PRIVACY

REP ELLISON STATEMENT ON ONLINE PRIVACY ACT
[SOURCE: House of Representatives, AUTHOR: Rep Keith Ellison (D-MN)]
Rep Keith Ellison (D-MN), along with Reps Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), introduced the Online Privacy Act (HR 3175). This bill would re-instate the Federal Communications Commission’s original online privacy rule, which would prohibit Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from selling user browsing data. “The Internet should be open and free for everyone – and every person who uses it should be able to do so without worrying what their service provider might be doing with their data,” Rep Ellison said. “Our government should work for us – the people – not massive telecom corporations. This bill would make sure that every American can get online without having their personal information sold to the highest bidder. And it will provide justice for those who already have had their information taken from them.”
benton.org/headlines/rep-ellison-statement-introduction-online-privacy-act-hr-3175 | House of Representatives
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OWNERSHIP
   Chicago Sun-Times acquired by union-linked group

CHICAGO SUN TIMES
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Rachel Sandler]
Edwin Eisendrath, a former Chicago alderman, is leading an investment group buying the Chicago Sun-Times. He told the Sun-Times he wanted a " group of civic-minded" leaders to save the paper: “A great group has come together and made sure that a genuine voice with honest and good reporting that connects with working men and women thrives.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Poynter Institute, a journalism organization, reports that the paper sold for what amounts to $1 and the assumption of any costs part of a future shutdown. The deal comes after the Department of Justice's antitrust division announced it was investigating a possible acquisition by Tronc, formerly known as Tribune Publishing, which has newspaper holdings that include the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. The deal would have put both of Chicago's major newspapers under the same owner.
benton.org/headlines/chicago-sun-times-acquired-union-linked-group | USAToday | Department of Justice
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

TRUMP-TWITTER SUIT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Hamza Shaban]
Seven people blocked by President Trump from seeing or interacting with his Twitter account filed a lawsuit against him, arguing that barring them from his popular social-media feed violates the First Amendment to the Constitution. The lawsuit, which raises interesting questions about what constitutes a public forum, as well as the boundaries of free-speech rights on the Web, comes as Trump continues to draw concern about his novel and erratic use of social media. “President Trump’s Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, has become an important source of news and information about the government, and an important public forum for speech by, to, and about the President,” the lawsuit said. “In an effort to suppress dissent in this forum, Defendants have excluded — 'blocked' —Twitter users who have criticized the President or his policies. This practice is unconstitutional, and this suit seeks to end it." The Twitter users, represented by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said that Trump's actions violated their Constitutional rights in several ways. They argued that the president has restricted their participation in a public forum, their ability to access official public statements made by him and their capacity to petition the government to air their grievances. The Twitter users said they brought the lawsuit to seek a declaration that Trump's actions were unconstitutional and to get an injunction requiring President Trump to unblock their accounts and preventing him from blocking other people because of their views.
benton.org/headlines/why-blocked-twitter-users-are-suing-president-trump | Washington Post
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