Mike Snider

Here's how you can apply to the FCC for the $50 discount on your broadband bill

You may be eligible for a $50 monthly coronavirus pandemic discount on your home broadband bill starting May 12.

Congress and technology: Do lawmakers understand Google and Facebook enough to regulate them?

A sizable disconnect appears to exist between the technology Americans are using and depending on in their daily lives and the knowledge base of people with the power and responsibility to decide its future and regulation.

Facebook inadvertently pulls, reinstates Trump Organization ads labeled as political

Facebook removed more than 100 ads paid for and posted by The Trump Organization after Facebook mistakenly classified them as political in nature and requiring payment disclosures. Advertisements for the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC,  the Trump National Doral golf course in Miami, and the Trump Turnberry Resort in Scotland were among the 117 ads removed from Facebook. Those ads have returned to Facebook after the network was notified by Scotland's national newspaper The Scotsman that some Trump property posts had been labeled as political.

What wireless providers like Verizon, AT&T are doing to prepare for Hurricane Florence

As millions evacuate the mid-Atlantic coastal region ahead of Hurricane Florence, wireless providers are mounting an invasion of support crews and high-tech machinery to repair and restore connectivity in the storm's wake. The incursion includes a menagerie of machines with animal monickers meant to help mend the hurricane-hit area's communications network.

Smarter devices, faster smartphones will follow from FCC 5G spectrum auctions

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the FCC will vote in its Aug 2 meeting to conduct a Nov 2018 auction of spectrum in the 28 gigahertz band, with a subsequent 24 GHz band auction soon afterwards.  These so-called high-band spectrum swaths are necessary for wireless providers and other tech players because, even though they travel shorter distances than other spectrum, they can deliver more data and traffic more quickly.

Facebook renews promise to lawmakers: we're ready for elections

Facebook is sending a signal to Capitol Hill that it's taking the integrity of its social network seriously during the US primary election season. One of the main messages aimed to be delivered to Capitol Hill: Facebook is taking serious steps to protect its network, flush with 2.2 billion users, from misinformation and other political ploys on the platform.

News publishers protest Facebook's new political ad rules

Major news organizations raised objections to Facebook's plans to treat ads promoting political news coverage the same as political advocacy ads. Under changes Facebook will roll out May 22 aimed at combating the spread of political misinformation, all Facebook ads featuring political content will get a “Paid for by” label and would carry a disclaimer. Publishers say these new rules are too broad. These political messaging labels would also appear on "sponsored" posts that news organizations buy to amplify the reach of an article or video on the political news of the day.

FCC should investigate Sinclair for distorting news, put merger on hold, senators say

A dozen Democratic senators are asking the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Sinclair Broadcasting Group for distorting the news. 

The FCC should also pause its review of Sinclair's acquisition of Tribune Media — a merger that could expand the nation's largest broadcaster from 193 stations to 223 stations covering 72% of US homes  — the senators say, to determine whether the deal is in the public interest.

Sinclair defends itself over uproar after local news anchors read anti 'false news' screed

Sinclair Broadcast Group is defending itself against criticism for a recent on-air promotional message many of its local news anchors were asked to read that warned viewers about "false news" on competing media outlets.  Sinclair produced the spots to express concern about the spread of such false media reports such as the "Pope Endorses Trump" fake news story that quickly spread across social media, said Scott Livingston, Sinclair's senior vice president of news. “Some other false stories, like the fake ‘Pizzagate’ story, can result in dangerous consequences,” he said.

Net neutrality: Did the FCC just take the Internet back to 2014?

When the Federal Communications Commission ruled to scrap Obama-era rules meant to prevent anti-competitive behavior by Internet service providers, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the action would simply return the Internet to 2014. But the reality is you can't truly turn back the clock on the Internet. Here's a look back at what led to the rules in the first place and what their repeal and replacement means for consumers now.

Net neutrality: Could anything stop the repeal of the Open Internet regulations?

Technically, Congress can take no action preventing the Federal Communications Commission from voting on Dec 14. Instead, it can only ask the agency to postpone or cancel the vote, and then try to pass a law governing Internet access.

NHMC warns Verizon of possible protest over Univision blackout

The National Hispanic Media Coalition is threatening to rally Latino leaders against Verizon for its removal of Univision from the Verizon Fios service. Verizon's blackout comes as the country recovers from Hurricane Katia and a pair of earthquakes, all of which hit in September.

John Oliver may have helped spur 150,000 comments to FCC on network neutrality

Nearly 200,000 people have already commented on network neutrality to the Federal Communications Commission — many likely spurred on by HBO's John Oliver. The comedian and host of the premium pay-TV channel's Last Week Tonight With John Oliver urged viewers to go to the FCC's web site to voice their support for current net neutrality regulations passed in 2015. The FCC had prepared for a new round of public comment after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai began the process of reconsidering the net neutrality rules, which require Internet service providers to treat all legal content equally. When the rules were being debated three years ago, Oliver's encouragement to file comments to the FCC during a June 2014 episode crashed the agency's site. On his latest episode, which debuted Sunday night, Oliver urged viewers with a Shakespearean, "once more into the breach." They apparently responded, with net neutrality comments rising from about 30,000 Monday morning to more than 184,650 by midday May 9.

Did network neutrality keep broadband out of low-income neighborhoods?

A big reason current network neutrality rules need to get the boot, says Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, is that they're curbing broadband investment in low-income neighborhoods — cutting off important information and services 21st-century citizens access via high-speed Internet. But were these 2015 rules, which aimed to prevent companies that bring Internet into homes from favoring their own content over others, really the culprit?

A review of broadband investment over the past two years paints a more complicated picture. One study of the largest carriers, the basis Pai’s claim, does show investment fell over the two-year period the rules were in effect. But that was largely due to AT&T. It's blamed the Open Internet rules for decreased broadband investment. Analysts point out, however, that like other large carriers it was engaged in a competitive shift that likely played a role — two mammoth acquisitions including the $85.4 billion deal for Time Warner. At the same time, Comcast — another big spender of broadband investment — increased its outlays by double digits. "You are going to hear a lot of posturing when it comes to the attempts to stifle some of those regulations," said Tuna Amobi, an equity analyst at CFRA Research who tracks companies such as Comcast and Charter Communications (which want the rules repealed) and Netflix (which supports them).

"What we saw ultimately was that, frankly, it was more or less a lot of noise," Amobi said. The market is simply too competitive not to invest, he says. "No one wants to be left behind."

Study: Sharer of digital news outweighs news source

Your trust in news shared over social media may depend more on the person who shared the news than the news source itself, new research suggests. The results suggest opportunities for news organizations in building strong online followings -- and challenges for social media in countering fake news. An online sample of 1,489 US adults participated in the experiment, conducted by The Media Insight Project, a collaboration of the American Press Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Those who got the news from a person they trusted were more likely to say the story was well-reported, correct and contained diverse points of view. For instance, 51% of those who got news from a trusted sharer said the information was well-reported and trustworthy, while only 34% said so if they got the news from a non-trusted sharer. Trusted sharers influenced outcomes in other ways, too. When the story is passed on by a trusted figure and the article was attributed to The AP, 52% of respondents said the article got the facts right. When the article was attributed to The AP, but the person passing it on is less trusted, only 32% say the facts were right.

6 changes the FCC has made in just six weeks

Here's some of what the Federal Communications Commission has done under President Donald Trump:

  1. Set aside a key Internet privacy rule. The FCC voted 2-to-1 to temporarily stay a data security regulation within a set of new privacy rules, passed in October 2016. That provision would have subjected Internet service providers (ISPs) to different privacy standards than web sites, apps and other Net players.
  2. Ended Zero-Rating Investigation. An FCC report issued before Chairman Tom Wheeler left office in January found that free data plans such as AT&T and Verizon may violate the agency's Net Neutrality rules, officially called the Open Internet rules, passed in 2015. Last month, Pai ended the investigation, saying that the practices enhanced competition and were popular with consumers. But critics called the move an initial offensive on the Net neutrality rules as a whole.
  3. Blocked approval of nine companies from Lifeline. Chairman Pai revoked the designation of nine companies as providers to the Lifeline plan, which subsidizes broadband service for low-income Americans. Like the Zero-Rating report, the Lifeline approval was a last-minute action by the Wheeler commission, Pai said at the time, and "should not bind us going forward."
  4. Approved broadband and wireless access. The commission over the last month approved $2 billion to improve rural broadband access and $453 million to improve wireless connectivity in rural America and in tribal lands.
  5. Made public items on its monthly agenda. Chairman Pai has begun posting the text of items to be considered by the commission on the agency's blog. In the past, Pai and fellow Republican commissioner Michael O'Rielly criticized Wheeler for not making agenda items public.
  6. Removed the set-top box rule from consideration. Before the first meeting he chaired, Pai removed from the agenda an order that would require pay-TV providers make free apps so subscribers could watch programming without a set-top box.

How Net Neutrality could get reversed (and what that means to you)

President Trump has called network neutrality a "top down power grab' by then-President Obama. And new Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai cast one of the two votes against the measure. Chairman Pai delivered a fresh sign recently that his take on net neutrality differs from that of his predecessor. On Feb 3, he announced the FCC was closing an investigation into wireless services offering content that doesn't count against data caps — a practice that, depending on your point of view, could be considered a net neutrality violation or a smart business tactic.

To unravel the net neutrality rules further, the FCC could begin drafting new ones or selectively enforce -- or not enforce -- rules on the book. Congress could act, too. What could this mean for consumers? More data-free offerings; Some content flows faster; Some content flows ... not so fast; Competition -- but more or less?

Is Trump giving CNN the cold shoulder?

Is the White House purposefully keeping its officials from appearing on CNN? Neither President Trump's special consultant Kellyanne Conway nor Press Secretary Sean Spicer have hit CNN's Sunday morning news talk shows such as State of the Union in the past two weeks. Meanwhile, both of them, as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus have appeared on other major networks' shows during that time. Spicer denied that CNN is being frozen out, when asked about it recently.

Concern about FCC's planned privacy rules vote

The Federal Communications Commission is expected Oct 27 to vote on new rules on how Internet service providers (ISPs) can use customer data. Consumer privacy over ISPs' broadband networks came under the purview of the FCC after the agency's adoption in 2015 of network neutrality or Open Internet rules. More than nine out of 10 adults (91%) agree or strongly agree consumers have lost control of their personal data and its use, according to a Pew Research Center report out in Sept. But its updating of Internet consumer privacy rules has vast repercussions when it comes to the accumulation of consumer data profiles and their possible use in advertising and marketing. Companies such as AT&T, Comcast, Google and Verizon have argued the FCC's rules should dovetail with those of the Federal Trade Commission, which handles consumer privacy on Web sites, in apps and any other Net destination.

Drama builds for vote on FCC set-top box rules

The Federal Communications Commission's proposed rules to let pay-TV subscribers free themselves from set-top boxes may be in jeopardy. Commissioners are expected to vote Sept 29 at the agency's monthly meeting on the measure, which would require pay-TV providers make free apps available to let subscribers watch programming on other devices without the need of a set-top box. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler made the proposal in January and the commission set it in motion a month later by a 3-2 vote. Chairman Wheeler reworked the proposed rules after initial concerns from pay-TV providers and programmers about copyright protections and consumer privacy. However, content companies such as Disney and Time Warner remain concerned about the FCC's involvement in licensing third-party companies, while pay-TV providers and others say that the proposal goes beyond the agency's purview.

Comcast wireless service due 2017

Comcast plans to begin offering its own wireless service by the middle of 2017.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the company planned to launch a wireless service by the middle of 2017. The service would deliver connectivity over the Verizon Wireless network and Comcast's own millions of Wi-Fi hotspots around the US. It essentially would be, he said, "the Verizon network maybe improved with our 15 million hotspots." Comcast can lease bandwidth on Verizon's network as part of a Justice Department agreement four years ago in which Verizon bought $3.6 billion in wireless spectrum from Comcast and other pay-TV companies. Current Comcast customers -- and those within its service areas -- would be able to sign up for larger bundles of Comcast services with the availability of wireless service added to current TV, broadband and phone offerings. "We believe there is a big payback with reduced churn, more stickiness, better satisfaction and better product purchasing," Roberts said.

NYC: Verizon has not met FiOS coverage targets

New York City wants its broadband and is taking on Verizon for failing to deliver. City officials have told Verizon Communications that it considers the telecommunications provider in default of its agreement to provide broadband and pay-TV services throughout the city. Verizon, which is headquartered in New York City, says its agreement with New York covers only cable TV and that the terms of the 12-year agreement, signed in 2008, are being met.

"The City has now chosen not to work with us to resolve impractical processes for getting access to more buildings which seems at odds with bringing the benefits of competition to New Yorkers," Verizon spokesman Ray McConville said. This isn't the first time that New York City and Verizon have had conflicting views of their agreement. In June 2015, the city released an audit that found Verizon had failed in extending its FiOS network throughout the city by June 30, 2014. "Through a thorough and comprehensive audit, we have determined that Verizon substantially failed to meet its commitment to the people of New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the time.

Federal court dismisses AT&T throttling case

A federal appeals court has dismissed a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission against AT&T for throttling, or slowing data speeds, on millions of customers with unlimited smartphone data plans. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a decision filed Aug 29, reversed a lower court's denial of AT&T's motion to dismiss the throttling lawsuit. The appeals court ruled that because AT&T was a common carrier, the service provider cannot be held liable for the violations that the FTC brought in its case.

The FTC filed the complaint in October 2014 charging that the nation's second-largest wireless carrier failed to adequately unlimited-data customers that their data speeds are reduced, or throttled, if they use too much data in a given billing cycle. Throttling would often make many common smartphone functions such as using the Web, getting directions and streaming video difficult or nearly impossible to use. The FTC had alleged that AT&T began throttling data speeds in 2011 and, overall, throttled at least 3.5 million unlimited data customers a total of more than 25 million times. AT&T did not offer new unlimited plan contracts after June 2010, but customers who had them could keep them. AT&T and other carriers that offered unlimited plans at the time argued that at some point they must throttle customers who used excessive amounts of data as part of network management. "We're pleased with the decision," AT&T said.

Broadcasters buy time after Aereo defeat

In ruling against Aereo, the US Supreme Court may have just bought broadcasters more time.

With Aereo announcing in a tweet that it would pause operations, questions linger as to what similar -- but legal -- alternatives will come to consumers who want to divorce their cable companies and still get reliable local TV. One can always monkey around with rabbit-ear antennas.

But broadcasters will be better served if they take the initiative to further develop their streaming options for those without cable, says Richard Doherty, technical director for the Envisioneering Group, a tech consulting firm.

"Broadcasters have their mandate, and they're under attack (by upstarts)." The nation's broadcasters have been given free spectrum to deliver free over-the-air broadcasts and have a responsibility to "make it easier for people to get their stuff," Doherty says. If they don't, "I dare say, people inside the Beltway may decide it for them."

The TV networks have a case of the Innovator's Dilemma here. Push forward with live streaming on their own, and they stand to trigger the ire of cable and satellite distributors that pay dearly to distribute their content. Ignore the savvy cord-cutters who vent on Twitter their frustration at the lack of streaming options, and the networks will increasingly come to look like slumbering giants interested only in retaining revenue streams.