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  2. August 2017

August 2017

FBI tracked Election Day social media for fake news from Russia

The FBI monitored social media accounts on Election Day 2016 to track Russian efforts to spread damaging false information about candidates. Dozens of agents scanned Twitter and Facebook, where stories promoting conspiracy theories and false claims against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had gained traction before the vote. Apparently, agents and security analysts spent the day at the FBI headquarters in Washington watching for security threats they believed were originating from Russia. Another group of FBI analysts and investigators found overseas-based social media accounts linked to the viral stories, which they suspected to be a part of a Russian disinformation operation, apparently.

President Trump's jobs tweet might have broken federal rules

President Donald Trump has been tweeting about the economy a lot lately, and Aug 4 was no different. But one of his tweets caught our eye. "Excellent Jobs Numbers just released - and I have only just begun. Many job stifling regulations continue to fall. Movement back to USA!" the President tweeted. Notice he said the jobs numbers had just been released. That's true; the Bureau of Labor Statistics had published them just 15 minutes earlier. That puts President Trump's tweet in violation of a federal rule (page three). It says, in part, when federal data is released, "employees of the Executive Branch shall not comment publicly on the data until at least one hour after the official release time."

Jeff Sessions might subpoena journalists to reveal leakers. Mike Pence once fought against that.

Remember Judith Miller? She is the former New York Times reporter who in 2005 spent almost three months in jail because she refused to identify the government source who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Attorney General Jeff Sessions raised the prospect that more journalists will have to make the same decision Miller did — out the source or go to jail — when he said the Justice Department is “reviewing policies affecting media subpoenas” as part of the Trump administration’s effort to crack down on leaks.

Miller, now a Fox News contributor, wrote in 2016 about how Mike Pence, then a Republican congressman from Indiana, invited her to his office upon her release from jail and promised to push for a shield law. She said, "True to his word, Mr. Pence introduced the 'Free Flow of Information Act' with Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA). 'As a conservative who believes in limited government,' he said after reintroducing the legislation, which failed the first time he proposed it, 'I believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press.'" In 2007, the Columbia Journalism Review called Mike Pence “journalism’s best ally in the fight to protect anonymous sources.” In the end, however, Pence failed to secure passage of his shield law, and there is still none in place. That is one reason that Sessions now has the power to subpoena journalists.

Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Center for Digital Democracy to FCC: Don't Weaken Kids Rules

Advocates called Aug 4 on the Federal Communications Commission to reject an effort by major media companies to “eliminate or weaken important rules for children’s television.” The NAB, Internet and Television Association (NCTA), CBS, Disney, Fox, Univision and others have asked the FCC to significantly reduce advertising limits on children’s programming. Industry commenters also urged the FCC to reconsider rules that require broadcasters to provide quality educational programming as part of their obligation to serve the public interest.

In comments filed Aug 4, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital Democracy called on the FCC to reject such proposals to repeal or modify the current rules. “The Trump Administration and the FCC should stand up for the rights of children and parents and reject this crass campaign by the broadcast lobby,” said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “The broadcast industry receives billions of dollars in benefits from its free use of public resources, including invaluable rights to the airwaves. It is unconscionable that TV stations and networks want to kill off one of their few remaining obligations to the public.”

Eric Trump accuses Twitter of censorship

President Donald Trump’s son, Eric Trump, on Aug 4 accused Twitter of censoring one of his tweets. In a tweet, the president's son tweeted out a screenshot of a tweet posted earlier on Aug 4 that read “Jobs Jobs Jobs!!!” followed by several American flag emojis. The tweet also retweeted another user's tweet that included a Drudge Report link about Aug 4's jobs report. Eric Trump's tweet was hidden for some viewers behind a standard Twitter warning, which was depicted in the screenshot. The grey warning box reads: “This tweet is not available because it includes potentially sensitive content.” “Why are my tweets about jobs and the economy being censored? #Interesting” Eric Trump tweeted in response.

Dish 'confident' its IoT strategy can meet FCC's build-out requirements

Dish Network believes that its plan to launch a narrowband Internet of Things (IoT) network will enable it to meet the Federal Communications Commission’s build-out requirements for its spectrum, according to Jefferies Equity Research Americas. But it may need some help. Dish continues to sit on a significant pile of midband spectrum, but the clock is ticking for the company to put its airwaves to use one way or another. FCC rules stipulate that the satellite-TV provider must reach a 70% build-out by March 2020, and Dish faces similar mandates for its licenses in the AWS-4 band.

“We do not believe that it serves the public interest or makes business sense to build out a 4G/LTE network now that would duplicate networks already offered by the wireless incumbents, and subsequently require an almost immediate upgrade in order to be competitive,” the company wrote in a March filing with the FCC. “Instead, Dish plans to deploy a 5G-capable network, focused on supporting IoT—the first to be deployed in these bands anywhere in the world. … This network will not be burdened with a requirement to be backward-compatible with legacy services.”

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