Lauren Frayer

A new study by Common Sense Media found that while young people value news media, they say they are often fooled by fake news, which may account for the fact that only a quarter of them put a lot of trust in the information they get. The study found that young people 10-18 don't feel the news covers things they care about or misrepresent them when they are part of the story.

According to the survey, 70% of the respondents said that the news makes them feel smart and knowledgeable, but 63% also said that what they see is disturbing and causes them to feel afraid, angry or depressed. Only 44% of them said they can tell fake news stories from real ones, and almost a third who have shared a news story online in the past six months (31%) said they had shared a story they later found out was wrong or inaccurate.

A primer on FCC Privacy news.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has wasted no time in scaling back rules passed by his Democratic predecessor, Tom Wheeler. This includes putting the brakes on new rules that govern what companies can do with your online data. Proponents like consumer advocacy groups argue that the rules protect your privacy, while internet service providers say that the regulations are too strict and don't apply to online companies like Facebook and Google. Regardless of whether you think the FCC or the Federal Trade Commission should be the top cop policing internet privacy, the issue of online security isn't going away anytime soon.

With every change in power, especially in the social media era, questions are raised about the new US president’s commitment to privacy rights. Here are some of the biggest things to look out for:
1) The Federal Communications Commission Makes it Easier for ISPs to Share Your Data
2) Citizens and Non-Citizens: Since Donald Trump entered office, the news media has regularly reported on phones and social media being searched at the airport. Although this also took place during the Obama era, anecdotal reports suggest that immigration officers are now requesting these searches of more travelers, and of both citizens and non-citizens.

[Commentary] With President Donald Trump’s early morning tweet several days ago accusing former President Barack Obama of unlawfully tapping his phone calls “during the very sacred election process,”and adding that “This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!,” Trump unambiguously accused President Obama of criminal conduct. In so doing, Trump committed the quintessential libel. It would be truly fascinating if Obama were now to sue Trump for defamation.

Of course, this will not happen. Barack Obama is not that kind of “guy.” He is a person of integrity, calm, and self-restraint. So, perhaps sadly, we will be spared the drama of such litigation. But this is just one more illustration of why the person currently in the White House should not be there.

[Geoffrey Stone is the Edward h Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago]

[Commentary] Congressional oversight and a necessary Federal Communications Commission reauthorization can assist to right the balance and ensure that the FCC focuses on the public interest. Interestingly, the groups that demonize Chairman Pai are also the same ones calling for regulatory solutions over market-oriented ones, specifically the regulation of broadband under common carriage rules from the 1930s. The groups are invested in realizing a nationalized broadband network instead of private provision, and Title II is essential because it could allow taxes to be levied on all Americans’ broadband subscriptions to support subsidies to municipal networks in specific areas.

Consumers who believe that a competitive market is a better protection for their desires should favor the solution which best leads to competition rather than the regulator picking winners.

[Layton is a PhD Fellow at the Center for Communication, Media, and Information Technologies (CMI) at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark.]

[Commentary] Though women from various parts of the internet have differing and often conflicting ideas on the best course of action for today's "Day Without a Woman", everyone I spoke to implicitly agreed that whatever we choose matters and that the choices were ones worth weighing and re-weighing. There will be opportunities in the next four years (and beyond) to refine our process for making bold, collective statements online (and off) Of that, we are nauseatingly sure. And however today’s strike affects national discourse, it’ll be a learning experience — yet another in a string of recent events that has compelled those who care about the fate of their country to face activism’s challenging conversations.

In International Women’s Day we reflect on the need for continuous work with the goal of achieving equal rights and opportunities for women. This year at Public Knowledge, we want to focus in the digital gap and call for the private and public sector to act decisively to close it.

Sen Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced a measure that would reverse the Federal Communications Commission’s privacy rules for internet service providers. The resolution would kill the FCC’s ‘Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Services’ regulation through the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to reject certain recently passed regulations by majority vote.

The FCC rules limit broadband providers from accessing and collecting personal customer information, including web browsing data and app usage history. The regulation, approved by the agency in October, was opposed by internet service providers who said it prevented them from using their customers' data for profit as most internet companies do. Sen Flake's resolution has 21 Republican co-sponsors, including Sens John Barrasso (R-WY), Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV).

Sens Edward Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) led a group of twelve Senators in urging the Federal Communications Commission to protect the E-Rate Program. They wrote, "E-Rate helps schools and libraries in every state by supporting access to modern communications and the Internet. Such access is critical if we are a country that is serious about preparing and educating our children for the digital age. The simple truth is that E-Rate has been nothing but extremely successful in helping schools and libraries in all 50 states have access to vital funding that ensures that kids in schools and libraries have high-speed Internet access and wireless connectivity. Your actions threaten to roll back progress made in all of these states and disrupt schools and libraries’ carefully planned multi-year budgets. Accordingly, we call on you to guarantee that this treasured program will not be undermined in any way under your watch.”

Sens Tom Udall (D-NM), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Al Franken (D-MN), Jeffery Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Bob Casey (D-PN) signed the letter.

Consumers Union urged Senate Commerce Committee members to press newly-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to explain his agenda on key consumer issues. In a letter to the Committee, the group outlined concerns regarding the Chairman’s plans for critical consumer protections, including net neutrality and broadband privacy rules. The letter also encourages Senators to question the Chairman on whether the FCC will tackle rising cable prices and add-on fees, what the Commission will do to increase competition in the cable set-top box market, and what the future portends for the FCC’s Robocall Strike Force. The letter includes specific issues for the Committee to address with Chairman Pai, including:
On Broadband Privacy: How favoring the FTC’s approach to privacy enforcement is anything less than a weakening of the current FCC broadband privacy rules, and to inquire about the many steps needed for the FTC to exercise comparable jurisdiction over issues critical to consumer privacy.
On Net Neutrality: What are his plans and thinking with regard to net neutrality moving forward, including exploring his rationale of historically low levels of broadband investment as a justification to scuttle the FCC’s net neutrality rules.
On Rising Cable Prices and Unwarranted Fees: What does Chairman Pai believes should be done to stem the proliferation of company-imposed fees, and whether he will adopt the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee’s recommendation that pay-TV providers should provide consumers with the estimated dollar amount of their total monthly bill that includes company-imposed fees and surcharges at the time service is initiated.
On Set-Top Boxes: How he plans to open up the set-top box market in a way that would truly benefit consumers.
On Robocalls: Whether Chairman Pai plans to host future meetings of the Robocall Strike Force, and whether he will push phone companies to promptly provide their consumers free, advanced robocall-blocking tools.