November 2018

Sens Daines (R-MT), Johnson (R-MS) Press Chairman Pai for Action on White Spaces

Sens Steve Daines (R-MT) and Ron Johnson (R-MS) have asked the Federal Communications Commission to resolve interference issues with TV white spaces (TVWS) use by unlicensed devices, come up with final guidance, and allow for the expansion of TVWS use. They say the technology is key to closing the rural broadband divide because it is an affordable connectivity answer for rural and tribal communities.

Sen Rubio (R-FL), Van Hollen (D-MD) ask White House to investigate ZTE's work in Venezuela

Sens Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) are asking the White House to look into whether the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE violated US sanctions by helping Venezuela track and monitor its citizens. The senators write that they are concerned that, by building a database to help Venezuela track its citizens, ZTE "may have violated US export controls and sanctions laws" as well as an agreement between the Commerce Department and ZTE reached earlier in 2018.

Facebook Expands Local News Feature

We’re announcing the expansion of a new local section on Facebook called “Today In” and starting a test for local alerts from relevant government pages. Today In connects people to local news and information about their community. It is now available in over 400 cities in the US, and we have launched our first international test in Australia. In addition, we have started testing Today In in communities located in news deserts, places that have low supply of local news and community information, by supplementing with relevant content from surrounding areas.