Governments around the world are finding that the old ways of ensuring national security, conducting law enforcement operations, and protecting the privacy rights of their citizens are being challenged by a medium that does not conform to borders or existing legal regimes. Indeed, the Internet and Jurisdiction Policy Network’s three workstreams hit at the heart of these challenges.
Hope Hicks, the White House Communications Director and one of President Donald Trump’s longest-serving and closest political advisers, said that she is leaving the administration sometime in the next few weeks. Hicks, 29, began working for Trump before he announced his candidacy and has been a constant at his side over the past three years, managing his public image and advising him on policy and other matters.
The Federal Communications Commission has released a detailed map of eligibility for its Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II) auction, designed to help bring 4G LTE service to rural areas. The map indicates which areas of the country are “presumed eligible” for the MF-II auction. Most of the eligibility is dispersed throughout the western half of the US. States with the most coverage -- indicating areas with less access to 4G LTE -- include North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.
The Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with PayPal over allegations that the company told users of its Venmo peer-to-peer payment service that money credited to their Venmo balances could be transferred to external bank accounts without adequately disclosing that the transactions were still subject to review and that funds could be frozen or removed. In its complaint, the FTC also charges that Venmo misled consumers about the extent to which they could control the privacy of their transactions.
The digital divide disproportionately impacts low-income Americans, and current proposals to Lifeline could make that reality even worse.
The Federal Communications Commission announced that Straight Path Communications and Verizon Communications have paid a civil penalty of over $600 million dollars to the US Treasury in connection with a January 2017 settlement that Straight Path entered into with the Commission’s Enforcement Bureau—prior to the sale and transfer of its licenses to Verizon.
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