July 2017

COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY

INVESTIGATORS EXPLORE IF RUSSIA COLLUDED WITH PRO-TRUMP SITES
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Julian Borger]
The spread of Russian-made fake news stories aimed at discrediting Hillary Clinton on social media is emerging as an important line of inquiry in multiple investigations into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
Investigators are looking into whether Trump supporters and far-right websites coordinated with Moscow over the release of fake news, including stories implicating Clinton in murder or paedophilia, or paid to boost those stories on Facebook. The head of the Trump digital camp, Brad Parscale, has reportedly been summoned to appear before the House intelligence committee looking into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 US election. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) has said that at least 1,000 “paid internet trolls working out of a facility in Russia” were pumping anti-Clinton fake news into social media sites during the campaign.
benton.org/headlines/investigators-explore-if-russia-colluded-pro-trump-sites-during-us-election | Guardian, The
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COMMISSION ON ELECTION INTEGRITY
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Kris Kobach]
On June 28, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity issued a letter requesting that states provide publicly available voter data as permitted under their state laws. At present, 20 states have agreed to provide the publicly available information requested by the Commission and another 16 states are reviewing which information can be released under their state laws. In all, 36 states have either agreed or are considering participating with the Commission's work to ensure the integrity of the American electoral system. While there are news reports that 44 states have "refused" to provide voter information to the Commission, these reports are patently false, more "fake news". At present, only 14 states and the District of Columbia have refused the Commission's request for publicly available voter information. Despite media distortions and obstruction by a handful of state politicians, this bipartisan commission on election integrity will continue its work to gather the facts through public records requests to ensure the integrity of each American's vote because the public has a right to know.
[Kris Kobach (R-KS) is Kansas Secretary of State and Vice Chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity]
benton.org/headlines/statement-presidential-advisory-commission-election-integrity | White House, The
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STATE RESISTANCE TO COMMISSION ON ELECTION INTEGRITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Mark Berman, John Wagner]
Officials in nearly every state say they cannot or will not turn over all of the voter data President Trump’s voting commission is seeking, dealing what could be a serious blow to Trump’s attempts to bolster his claims that widespread fraud cost him the popular vote in November. The commission’s request for a massive amount of state-level data last week included asking for all publicly available information about voter rolls in the states, such as names of all registrants, addresses, dates of birth, partial Social Security numbers and other data. It immediately encountered criticism and opposition, with some saying it could lead to an invasion of privacy and others worrying about voter suppression. The states that won’t provide all of their voter data grew to a group of at least 44 by Wednesday, including some, such as California and Virginia, that said they would provide nothing to the commission. Others said they are hindered by state laws governing what voter information can be made public but will provide what they can.
benton.org/headlines/why-almost-every-state-partially-or-fully-rebuffing-trumps-election-commission | Washington Post
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TRUMP APPEARS TO PROMOTE VIOLENCE AGAINST CNN WITH TWEET
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David Nakamura]
A day after defending his use of social media as befitting a “modern day” president, President Donald Trump appeared to promote violence against CNN in a tweet. President Trump, who is on vacation at his Bedminster (NJ) golf resort, posted on Twitter an old video clip of him performing in a WWE professional wrestling match, but with a CNN logo superimposed on the head of his opponent. In the clip, Trump is shown slamming the CNN avatar to the ground and pounding him with simulated punches and elbows to the head. Trump added the hashtags #FraudNewsCNN and #FNN, for “fraud news network.” The video clip apparently had been posted days earlier on Reddit, a popular social media message board. The president's tweet was the latest escalation in his beef with CNN over its coverage of him and his administration.
benton.org/headlines/president-trump-appears-promote-violence-against-cnn-tweet | Washington Post
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TRUMP LOCKS HEADS WITH NEWS MEDIA IN A SOCIAL-MEDIA FIRST
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: David Nakamura, John Wagner, Aaron Gregg]
President Donald Trump, who has reveled in his confrontational style with the news media, sparked fierce debate July 2 over whether he is inciting violence against journalists by posting a doctored video clip showing him bashing the head of a figure representing CNN. President Trump’s latest provocation in his war with the media brought denunciations from Democrats, and some Republicans, who warned that the president’s conduct could endanger reporters as he seeks to undermine public trust in reporting about his administration. “Violence & violent imagery to bully the press must be rejected,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wrote in one of the many comments from elected officials posted on Twitter. Presidential historians suggested that Trump’s social media attacks are lowering the bar on what constitutes appropriate presidential conduct in fighting perceived media enemies. HW Brands, a historian at the University of Texas, said Republican President Richard Nixon also felt mistreated, but “Nixon didn’t air his grievances as publicly as Trump does. We’ve never seen anything quite like the ongoing performance of President Trump.” Meanwhile, White House aides and supporters defended the president’s Twitter post as a pointed but harmless barb at what he sees as a hostile press corps. Some said the reaction demonstrated the inflated self-regard of reporters and their inability to take a joke.
benton.org/headlines/president-trump-locks-heads-news-media-social-media-first | Washington Post
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

KILL THE OPEN INTERNET, WAVE GOODBYE TO CONSUMER CHOICE
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Terrell McSweeny, Jon Sallet]
[Commentary] It’s clear that most US consumers depend upon a few big players in order to access the internet. Therefore, the critical question is whether these companies have the incentive and ability to harm consumers and competition. That is, are they motivated to control what kinds of innovations come to consumers? And do they have the tools to do so? Both the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice have recognized in recent proceedings that the answers are yes and yes. In 1776, Thomas Paine didn’t need the permission of any other content creator or distributor to circulate Common Sense. But without rules prohibiting blocking, throttling, and the like, broadband providers would gain the power to limit what unpopular content flows over their networks—to the detriment of consumers and democracy. One challenger to the 2015 Open Internet Order argued exactly this to the DC Circuit: that the rules violated its right to block legal but unpopular content. An Open Internet has worked for America, creating a virtuous circle of innovation, trust, adoption, and further innovation. That circle should not be broken.
[Terrell McSweeny is a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. Jon Sallet is the former general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission. Both are alumni of the antitrust division of the Department of Justice]
benton.org/headlines/kill-open-internet-and-wave-goodby-consumer-choice | Wired
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SAVE NN, RESIST FCC CHANGES
[SOURCE: Portland Tribune, AUTHOR: Peter Wong]
Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) says only an outpouring of public opposition to proposed federal changes can save the internet from becoming an "information aristocracy." The Sen said that a proposal by the Federal Communications Commission — now led by an appointee of President Donald Trump — will end the principle of internet service providers treating all data the same, no matter who originates it, what the content is, or how it is delivered. "We are trying to create a citizen juggernaut so that politicians cannot look the other way," Sen Wyden said at the Friday Forum of the City Club of Portland, cosponsored by the World Affairs Council of Oregon. "I am telling you that citizen pressure really matters — and we have to have it now in the fight for net neutrality. It is a federal policy that embodies the Oregon way and gives everybody a fair shake."
benton.org/headlines/sen-wyden-save-net-neutrality-resist-fcc-changes | Portland Tribune
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TOWN HALL MEETINGS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Li Zhou]
Democrats have promised to take technology issues like network neutrality and broadband privacy to the voters in the 2018 midterms. And fresh off the July 4 holiday, many of them will be doing just that at town hall events across the country. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is hosting an event with Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn on July 7 focusing on net neutrality and "rules put in place during the Obama administration protecting a free and open internet [that] have come under attack." Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) are also huddling with constituents for events that may include talk of broadband privacy and internet surveillance.
benton.org/headlines/sen-cantwell-teams-fcc-commissioner-clyburn-network-neutrality-town-hall | Politico
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EU/GOOGLE

WHO SHOULD LEAD INTERNET POLICY
[SOURCE: Brookings, AUTHOR: Tom Wheeler]
[Commentary] The tremor in Silicon Valley emerged from Brussels, not the San Andreas Fault. The European Union’s decision on Google’s search practices makes clear the absence of domestic regulation has opened the door for policies to be decided by foreign governments. It should be a worry – and a wake-up – for all the companies whose platforms drive internet services. The EU has leveled a record-breaking $2.7 billion fine against Google for its search practices. But that’s just money (albeit lots of money). A more pervasive consequence is the EU mandate that Google alter the manner in which its search results are presented. Domestic internet programs might want to consider their own corporate interest in embracing domestic policy regulatory oversight. The decision of the EU is a wake-up call that perhaps having policies established by the US government isn’t such a bad idea after all.
[Tom Wheeler is a former Chairman to the Federal Communications Commission]
benton.org/headlines/who-should-lead-internet-policy | Brookings
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SECURITY/PRIVACY

FACEBOOK BEATS PRIVACY LAWSUIT IN US OVER USER TRACKING
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jonathan Stempel]
A US judge has dismissed nationwide litigation accusing Facebook of tracking users' internet activity even after they logged out of the social media website. In a decision late on June 30, US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose (CA) said the plaintiffs failed to show they had a reasonable expectation of privacy, or that they suffered any "realistic" economic harm or loss. The plaintiffs claimed that Facebook violated federal and California privacy and wiretapping laws by storing cookies on their browsers that tracked when they visited outside websites containing Facebook "like" buttons. But the judge said the plaintiffs could have taken steps to keep their browsing histories private, and failed to show that Facebook illegally "intercepted" or eavesdropped on their communications. "The fact that a user's web browser automatically sends the same information to both parties," meaning Facebook and an outside website, "does not establish that one party intercepted the user's communication with the other," Davila wrote.
benton.org/headlines/facebook-beats-privacy-lawsuit-us-over-user-tracking | Reuters
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ACCESS NOW, EFF BACK FACEBOOK ON PROTESTER PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Li Zhou]
Access Now and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are among those signing onto an amicus brief supporting Facebook in its efforts to protect the anonymity of its users and alert them if they are under investigation. According to Access Now, the government, which is investigating Trump inauguration protests that turned violent, has requested that Facebook unmask the identities of three users under a gag order, which means the company can't tell the people in question about the warrants. "First, the non-disclosure order is both a prior restraint and a content-based restriction on speech and is therefore subject to the most demanding First Amendment scrutiny," the groups write. "Second, the underlying warrants are apparently calculated to invade the right of Facebook's users to speak and associate anonymously on a matter of public interest."
benton.org/headlines/access-now-eff-back-facebook-protester-privacy | Politico
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE

WHAT JAREDS OFFICE ACTUALLY DOES
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Nancy Scola]
When a dozen and a half CEOs of the world’s biggest tech companies descended on the White House in June, it turned a spotlight on one of the bigger mysteries of a mysterious White House: They were convened by the Office of American Innovation, the new operation being run by presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. Announced with much fanfare by the president in March, the office was set up to bring “new thinking and real change” to the country’s toughest problems, according to Trump, in part by drawing on the lessons of the private sector. Since then, observers have been wondering just what it was, or even if it was. It didn’t help that the sweep of its briefing was almost comically broad, from upgrading federal government’s $82 billion worth of information technology, to spurring the creation of new jobs, changing how the country thinks about apprenticeships and "unleashing American business." Not to mention working with sometimes-antagonist Chris Christie’s commission on tackling the United States' opioid epidemic. (And all this while Kushner is also supposed to be tackling Middle Eastern peace.) But over the past few weeks, its responsibilities have started to come into focus. It now has a staff, which worked behind the scenes to bring in the impressive roster of tech CEOs who attended the summit—Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, IBM’s Ginni Rometty and more. It spurred the decision by the Veterans Administration to buy a new, multibillion-dollar computer system. And it had a hand in Trump’s executive order on apprenticeships, issued before the meeting.
benton.org/headlines/what-jareds-office-actually-does | Politico
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POLICYMAKERS

CHAIRMAN PAI APPOINTS ELLIG CHIEF ECONOMIST
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced the appointment of
Jerry Ellig as chief economist for the FCC. Dr. Ellig currently serves as a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Dr. Ellig’s work focuses on the role of economic analysis in the U.S. regulatory process, competition policy in telecommunications, broadband and electronic commerce, and performance management in government agencies. Most recently, he has published a series of papers that assess the quality and use of regulatory impact analysis in both executive branch and independent agencies. These papers identify best practices, shortcomings, and reasons for variation in the quality of agencies’ analysis. Dr. Ellig has worked as a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University since 1996. He previously served in the federal government as deputy director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission (2001-03) and as a senior economist at the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress (1995-96). He has also served as an associate professor of economics and adjunct professor of law at George Mason University. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, and a B.A. in economics from Xavier University in Cincinnati.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-pai-appoints-jerry-ellig-chief-economist | Federal Communications Commission
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TAD LIPSKY
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Trade Commission Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen announced that Abbott (Tad) Lipsky, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, retired effective July 3, 2017. Lipsky was previously a partner in the law firm of Latham & Watkins LLP, and brought 40 years of experience in antitrust law to the position, including previously serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General to President Reagan’s first Assistant Attorney General, William F. Baxter. He also served on the Trump administration transition team for the FTC. Alan Devlin, an Acting Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition also left the Commission July 3, 2017, for private practice. Markus H. Meier, who has served as Acting Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition since November 2015, replaces Lipsky as Acting Director of the Bureau of Competition. Meier has led the Health Care division within the Bureau of Competition since 2006. He brings nearly 30 years of experience in antitrust, serving previously in private practice and the U.S. Army. As part of these changes, Acting Chairman Ohlhausen has also appointed Haidee L. Schwartz as an Acting Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition. Schwartz previously served as an Attorney Advisor to Acting Chairman Ohlhausen, and as a counsel practicing antitrust law at O’Melveny & Myers LLP in Washington D.C. Marian R. Bruno will continue to serve as Deputy Director, Bureau of Competition, a position she has held since 2008. She will continue to bring her strong leadership, immense skills and expertise to the Bureau’s mission.
benton.org/headlines/ftc-acting-chairman-ohlhausen-announces-departure-tad-lipsky-and-appointment-markus-meier | Federal Trade Commission
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July 2017

Dissatisfied with the national media’s frame, Appalachia finds its own voice

Drew Clark Announces Broadband-Focused Candidacy for City Council in Orem, Utah

Determining the Feasibility of Shared Mobility Services in Low-Income, Rural Areas

July 6, 2017 (Catching Up On The Revolution)