1. Monthly archive
  2. August 2017

August 2017

House Commerce Democrats Submit Comments on Net Neutrality Plan: Proposal Fundamentally & Profoundly Runs Counter to the Law

Eleven House Commerce Committee Democratic Reps submitted public comments on the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to roll back network neutrality regulations stating that the proposal fundamentally and profoundly run counter to the law. The lawmakers wrote that the FCC’s proposal misstates the distinction Congress made in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 between telecommunications services and information services.

The Committee Democrats also wrote that the proposal ignores the most critical issues affecting our country today—priorities such as free speech and democracy, small businesses, jobs and economic development, and privacy. Instead, the Commission narrowly focused on a single ill-conceived measure of broadband investment to the exclusion of all others. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal to undo the rules "impermissibly ignores the Commission’s core mandate to fully consider the public interest before taking action," violating the commission's obligations under the Communications Act, the Democrats wrote in an FCC filing opposing Pai's plan. The lawmakers also questioned Pai's independence from President Donald Trump.

The FCC comment was submitted by House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-PA), and Reps Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Kathy Castor (D-FL), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Jerry McNerney (D-CA), Peter Welch (D-VT) and Joe Kennedy III (D-MA).

Why arguments against WaPo’s Oval Office leaks are wrong

[Commentary] The Washington Post made waves on Aug 3 when it published the full transcripts of President Donald Trump’s erratic phone calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia that occurred just after he was inaugurated. Despite their clear news value, some journalists and pundits questioned whether the leaked transcripts should be published.

Far from being criticized for publishing these leaked transcripts, The Washington Post should be commended. The Trump Administration has spent the last few months trying to cut off all avenues of transparency to the White House, refusing to release visitor logs, keeping Trump’s schedule opaque, limiting the information in readouts of calls to foreign leaders, refusing to hold a presidential press conference since February, and even demanding journalists do not record the administration’s daily press briefings. The Trump Administration may complain all day about leaks, but leaks are increasingly the only way the American public can learn what the administration is really doing. And the news value of these transcripts could not be more obvious: They showed Trump did not know basic facts, that he asked a foreign leader to lie to the press for him, that he knew from the start that his signature campaign promise to “make Mexico pay for the wall” was bogus, and that he has no sense for how allies should cooperate with each other.

[Trevor Timm is the executive director of Freedom of the Press Foundation.]

Why social media is not a public forum

For Internet trolls, the week of July 24 may as well have been Christmas. On July 25, Judge James Cacheris of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia handed down a decision stating that public officials may not “block” their constituents on social media. The case, which will influence a similar case filed by the Knight First Amendment Institute against President Trump, involved a dispute between defendant Phyllis Randall, chairman of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, and plaintiff Brian Davison.

The facts allege that Randall banned Davison from her Facebook page titled “Chair Phyllis J. Randall” after Davison published comments during an online forum that, in Randall’s view, consisted of “slanderous” remarks about “people’s family members” and “kickback money” (if the facts seem confusing or incomplete, it’s not just you — neither party could recall the precise contents of the deleted comment). Although it is difficult to contest that Randall was acting in her official capacity, the court’s conclusion that a social media platform is analogous to a public forum is ill-conceived.

Why the NRA is going after the media

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, National Rifle Association head Wayne LaPierre gave a remarkable speech during which he offered up a vast, loosely aggregated opposition that was the new threat for gun owners to fear: “leftists,” anarchists, criminals and, of course, “national media machine.” “For the first time, we also face an enemy utterly dedicated to destroy not just our country, but also Western civilization,” he said — not of foreign invasion, but of liberals and the media.

The organization and its online television network, NRATV, has also made ads specifically targeting media outlets, including The Washington Post and, this week, the New York Times. The NRA is spending money to pitch the media in particular as a threat to gun owners.

© 1994-2024 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.