June 2018

Most Americans Now Believe Russia Will Likely Meddle in Midterms (Morning Consult)

Submitted by benton on Thu, 06/21/2018 - 08:01

Daily Digest 6/21/2018

Submitted by benton on Thu, 06/21/2018 - 08:00

Daily Digest 6/21/2018 (FCC's July Agenda)

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Thu, 06/21/2018

Benton Foundation

How Phone Companies Share Your Data

Carriers get requests for their customers’ whereabouts from all sorts of places. How they handle them depends on who is asking. 1) Each carrier has a dedicated legal team that evaluates the requests of law-enforcement officers. 2) Emergency calls are routed to public-safety answering points, which can obtain the caller’s location without affirmative consent. 3) Middlemen like LocationSmart and Zumigo can access information on cellphone users’ whereabouts in situations where the company seeking the information might not know which carrier to ask.

How Tech Companies Conquered America’s Cities

Across the country, cities are straining. Housing costs are exploding, transportation systems are overwhelmed, infrastructure is crumbling, and inequality is on the rise. Yet there’s little support from federal or state authorities — “infrastructure week” is a punch line in Washington, not a policy. Efforts to raise money for local projects are under siege from conservative activists, while measures to build more housing are halted by liberal ones. Into this void march the techies, who come bearing money, jobs and promises of out-of-this-world innovation. But there’s a catch.