1. Monthly archive
  2. June 2018

June 2018

Remarks of FCC Commissioner O'Rielly before the Cloud Comms Summit

It is a true honor to have the chance to speak before members of the relatively new Cloud Communications Alliance....During times of change, an agency must refrain from subjecting new technologies to old regulatory structures.At a minimum, an agency should not act unless it is clear that the agency has authority, that there is evidence of a market failure warranting intervention, and that the benefits of acting outweigh the costs. Otherwise, regulators risk suppressing further entry, innovation, and investment.

Conservative Coalition Supports T-Mobile and Sprint Merger

A group of conservative organizations sent a letter to the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee supporting the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, saying the transaction is consistent with antitrust law and will benefit consumers. The groups say the merger will drive competition and will result in higher speeds and lowered prices for consumers. 

Facebook gives up on building internet-beaming drones

Four years after embarking on a project to bring internet access to remote locations through the use of internet-beaming drones, Facebook is giving up on designing its own aircraft. Instead, the tech giant said that it will work with aerospace manufacturer Airbus and other partners.

As publishers pump out repetitive content, quality reporting suffers

According to figures provided by media analytics company Newswhip, The Washington Post published 10,580 individual things in May of this year, including wire stories, graphics, and other miscellania. CNN published 9,430, The New York Times 5,984, The Wall Street Journal 4,898, and NPR 2,254. Similar numbers are not available for the pre-smartphone era, but the print edition of the Post on June 26 —a decent analogue for the numbers in the print-driven era—included 135 stories, less than half the daily web total.

CWA Will Oppose T-Mobile-Sprint Without Job Commitments

In advance of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the proposed T-Mobile-Sprint merger, the Communications Workers of America called on the companies to commit to protecting workers' rights and not eliminating jobs, and threatened to oppose the deal if they won't make that commitment. CWA conceded that the CEO of T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom, Tim Höttges, has said that the merger will create and repatriate jobs. But it wants that in a "binding" form at the Federal Communications Commission, which is vetting the deal along with the Department of Justice.

Bill to save net neutrality is 46 signatures short in US House

Lawmakers seeking to reinstate network neutrality rules are still 46 signatures short of getting the House of Representatives to vote on the measure. A discharge petition needs 218 signatures to force a House vote and 218 votes would also be enough to pass the measure. So far, the petition has signatures from 172 representatives, all Democrats. That number hasn't changed in two weeks. "We're 46 [signatures] away from being able to force a vote on the resolution to restore the Open Internet Order," Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) said.

Inside Facebook and Twitter’s secret meetings with Trump aides and conservative leaders who say tech is biased

Twitter and Facebook are scrambling to assuage conservative leaders who have sounded alarms — and sought to rile voters — with accusations that the country’s tech giants are censoring right-leaning posts, tweets and news. From secret dinners with conservative media elite to private meetings with the Republican National Committee, the new outreach reflects tech giants’ delicate task: satisfying a party in power while defending online platforms against attacks that threaten to undermine the public’s trust in the Web.

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