BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017
Today's Event -- Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, NTIA https://www.benton.org/calendar/2017-08-15
CHARLOTTESVILLE
New Outcry as President Trump Rebukes Charlottesville Racists 2 Days Later
AG Sessions Says DOJ Will Defend Protesters Against ‘Racism and Bigotry’
President Trump retweets far-right activist after condemning hate groups [links to Hill, The]
Editorial: Trump’s first response to Charlottesville was tepid and mealy mouthed. His second was too late [links to Los Angeles Times]
What a presidential president would have said about Charlottesville - WaPo editorial [links to Benton summary]
Vice President Mike Pence Slams Media for Condemning How Trump Reacted to Charlottesville Violence [links to Wrap, The]
Michael Gerson: President Trump babbles in the face of tragedy [links to Washington Post]
President Trump won't denounce neo-Nazis, so the CEO of Merck is quitting his advisory council [links to Benton summary]
Under Armour and Intel CEOs Follow Merck Chief, Quitting Panel in Rebuke to Trump [links to New York Times]
President Trump Attacks Merck Chief Kenneth Frazier for Quitting Advisory Panel [links to New York Times]
White supremacist rally could be tipping point for tech's tolerance for hate speech
Neo-Nazi site moves to Google after GoDaddy dumps it [links to Reuters]
Google canceled the domain registration for a neo-Nazi website that GoDaddy also banned [links to Vox]
No, Google Did Not Violate Daily Stormer’s First Amendment Rights [links to Wrap, The]
Twitter, Facebook users name and shame white nationalists in Charlottesville rally [links to San Jose Mercury News]
Twitter users are revealing the identities of Charlottesville white supremacist protestors [links to Benton summary]
Facebook is deleting links to a viral attack on a Charlottesville victim [links to Vox]
FCC Officials Denounce White Nationalists in Charlottesville [links to Benton summary]
My Response to Charlottesville. - Harold Feld blog [links to Benton summary]
President Trump’s Response to Charlottesville Shameful and Hypocritical, says NHMC’s Alex Nogales [links to National Hispanic Media Coalition]
Who Were the Counterprotesters in Charlottesville? [links to New York Times]
Protesters in Durham Topple a Confederate Monument [links to New York Times]
Leaders in Several States Call for Confederate Monuments to Be Removed [links to New York Times]
After violence in Charlottesville, cities rush to take down monuments as white supremacists gear up to fight [links to Los Angeles Times]
‘Vile bigotry’: Politicians respond to violent protests in Charlottesville [links to Washington Post]
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says white supremacy has ‘no place in this world’ [links to Vox]
How to Talk to Your Kids About Charlottesville [links to New York Times]
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
Tech firm is fighting a federal order for data on visitors to an anti-Trump website
Orin Kerr: A closer look at DOJ’s warrant to collect website records [links to Washington Post]
CNN reporter to Trump: 'Haven't you spread a lot of fake news yourself?'
The Justice Department is demanding information on visitors to an anti-Trump website [links to Verge, The]
Trump re-election campaign releases ad attacking 'enemies' [links to CNN]
Secessionists push for South to break away from US again [links to Associated Press]
ELECTIONS
Trump campaign e-mails show aide’s repeated efforts to set up Russia meetings
President Trump is now out of excuses for denying Russia meddled in the election [links to Washington Post]
INTERNET/BROADBAND/TELECOM
Senate Leaders Want Lifeline Abuse Investigations
Pleading Cycle Established for Comments on NTCA and USTelecom's Petition for Forbearance from USF Contribution Requirements - public notice [links to Benton summary]
A Further Review of the Internet Association's Empirical Study on Network Neutrality and Investment - Phoenix Center analysis [links to Benton summary]
What the United States can do to protect Internet freedom around the world - WaPo op-ed [links to Benton summary]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Android app stores flooded with 1,000 spyware apps [links to ZDNet]
Transparency Report for the first half of 2017 [links to Verizon]
FBI Says ISIS Used eBay to Send Terror Cash to US [links to Wall Street Journal]
Los Angeles to launch cybersecurity threat-sharing group with AEG, Riot Games and other city businesses [links to Los Angeles Times]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Arizona to opt-in to FirstNet Network [links to First Responder Network Authority]
CONTENT
Judge says LinkedIn can't block startup from user’s public data [links to Benton summary]
How AI Is Creating Building Blocks to Reshape Music and Art [links to New York Times]
Netflix doesn’t need to buy its hits from Hollywood anymore. It can go straight to the hit makers. [links to Vox]
What the Shondaland-Netflix deal means for the future of TV [links to Washington Post]
OWNERSHIP
Democratic Reps Press FCC for answers on Sinclair
Tech is at war with the world [links to Benton summary]
EDUCATION
Sprint addresses 'Homework Gap' with free service for high schoolers [links to Benton summary]
Are Student-Privacy Laws Getting in the Way of Education Research? [links to Education Week]
JOURNALISM
RTDNA offers support to journalists in Charlottesville [links to Radio Television Digital News Association]
It is time to stop using the term ‘alt right’ - CJR op-ed [links to Benton summary]
How journalists should handle racist words, images and violence in Charlottesville [links to Poynter]
Margaret Sullivan: ‘Chilling,’ cried Fox News when one of its reporters was targeted in a leak case. Where’s the outrage now? [links to Washington Post]
Silicon Valley Now Has Its Own Populist Pundit [links to Benton summary]
GOVERNMENT & COMMNICATIONS
President Trump can block people on Twitter if he wants, administration says [links to Benton summary]
How Government Agencies Can Protect Their Social Media Accounts -- And Employees [links to nextgov]
POLICYMAKERS
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr Announces Staff - press release
Chairman Pai Announces Tatel To Serve As Acting General Counsel - press release [links to Benton summary]
House Minority Leader Pelosi renews call for President Trump to fire Bannon [links to Hill, The]
DIVERSITY
From Google to Yahoo, Tech Grapples With White Male Discontent [links to Bloomberg]
COMPANY NEWS
The Miami Heat are switching to smartphone-only tickets for home games this season [links to Verge, The]
Pandora, After Shake-Up, Picks New CEO, Sling’s Roger Lynch [links to New York Times]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Trump administration goes after China over intellectual property, advanced technology [links to Washington Post]
See also: Op-ed: China’s Intellectual Property Theft Must Stop [links to New York Times]
How China squeezes tech secrets from U.S. companies [links to CNN]
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CHARLOTTESVILLE
PRESIDENT TRUMP REBUKES RACISTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Glenn Thrush]
The crisis in Charlottesville presented President Donald Trump with a choice between adopting the unifying tone of a traditional president or doubling down on the go-it-alone approach that got him elected in 2016. On August 14, President Trump offered a glimpse of a more calming and conventional president, but he ended the day with a flurry of angry tweets that left little doubt he intended to govern on his own terms. President Trump, after two days of issuing equivocal statements, bowed to overwhelming pressure that he personally condemn white supremacists who incited bloody weekend demonstrations in Charlottesville. But before and after his conciliatory statement — which called for “love,” “joy” and “justice” — President Trump issued classically caustic Twitter attacks.
benton.org/headlines/new-outcry-president-trump-rebukes-charlottesville-racists-2-days-later | New York Times
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AG SESSION SAYS DOJ WILL DEFEND PROTESTORS AGAINST 'RACISM AND BIGOTRY'
[SOURCE: NBC News, AUTHOR: Kalhan Rosenblatt]
Attorney General Jeff Sessions became the latest official in the Trump administration to defend the president's comments following the car-ramming attack in Charlottesville (VA), while promising the Department of Justice would take "vigorous action" to defend the rights of Americans to protest bigotry. "Well [Trump] made a very strong statement that directly contradicted the ideology of hatred, violence, bigotry, racism, white supremacy — those things must be condemned in this country," Sessions said. "They’re totally unacceptable, and you can be sure that this Department of Justice, in his administration, is going to take the most vigorous action to protect the right of people, like Heather Heyer, to protest against racism and bigotry...We’re going to protect the right to assemble and march and we’re going to prosecute anybody to the fullest extent of the law that violates the right to do so, you can be sure about that," Sessions said.
benton.org/headlines/ag-sessions-says-doj-will-defend-protesters-against-racism-and-bigotry | NBC News
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TECH AND HATE SPEECH
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Jon Swartz, Rachel Sandler, Brett Molina]
A rise in domestic hate groups — whose vitriol spilled from online forums to the streets of Charlottesville during a violent weekend protest by white supremacists — is intensifying pressure on GoDaddy, Twitter, Google and others to put a lid on US extremist sites. Civil libertarians and religious leaders say the deadly Charlottesville protest could be a tipping point for technology services to bow to consumer outrage and boot white nationalist and neo-Nazi sites that violate terms of service. If this happens, it will be a change that's slow in coming. Many Internet providers and platforms include policies that allow them to drop customers and users for a variety of reasons, including incitement of violence and hate speech. But they also have cast themselves as forums for the free-wheeling debate that's been a hallmark of the Internet, a role that makes them loathe to police the content their users share.
benton.org/headlines/white-supremacist-rally-could-be-tipping-point-techs-tolerance-hate-speech | USAToday
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ELECTIONS
TRUMP CAMPAIGN E-MAILS SHOW AIDES REPEATED EFFORTS TO SET UP RUSSIA MEETINGS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Tom Hamburger, Carol Leonnig, Rosalind Helderman]
Three days after Donald Trump named his campaign foreign policy team in March 2016, the youngest of the new advisers sent an e-mail to seven campaign officials with the subject line: “Meeting with Russian Leadership - Including Putin.” The adviser, George Papadopoulos, offered to set up “a meeting between us and the Russian leadership to discuss US-Russia ties under President Trump,” telling them his Russian contacts welcomed the opportunity, according to internal campaign e-mails read to The Washington Post. The proposal sent a ripple of concern through campaign headquarters in Trump Tower. Campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis wrote that he thought NATO allies should be consulted before any plans were made. Another Trump adviser, retired Navy Rear Adm. Charles Kubic, cited legal concerns, including a possible violation of U.S. sanctions against Russia and of the Logan Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens from unauthorized negotiation with foreign governments. But Papadopoulos, a campaign volunteer with scant foreign policy experience, persisted. Between March and September, the self-described energy consultant sent at least a half-dozen requests for Trump, as he turned from primary candidate to party nominee, or for members of his team to meet with Russian officials. Among those to express concern about the effort was then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who rejected in May 2016 a proposal from Papadopoulos for Trump to do so. The exchanges are among more than 20,000 pages of documents the Trump campaign turned over to congressional committees this month after review by White House and defense lawyers.
benton.org/headlines/trump-campaign-e-mails-show-aides-repeated-efforts-set-russia-meetings | Washington Post | The Hill
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COMMUNICATIONS AND DEMOCRACY
FIGHTING FEDERAL ORDER
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
A Los Angeles-based tech company is resisting a federal demand for more than 1.3 million IP addresses to identify visitors to a website set up to coordinate protests on Inauguration Day — a request whose breadth the company says violates the Constitution. “What we have is a sweeping request for every single file we have” in relation to DisruptJ20.org, said Chris Ghazarian, general counsel for DreamHost, which hosts the site. “The search warrant is not only dealing with everything in relation to the website but also tons of data about people who visited it.” The request also covers emails between the site’s organizers and people interested in attending the protests, any deleted messages and files, as well as subscriber information — such as names and addresses — and unpublished photos and blog posts that are stored in the site’s database, according to the warrant and Ghazarian.
benton.org/headlines/tech-firm-fighting-federal-order-data-visitors-anti-trump-website | Washington Post
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CNN REPORTER TO TRUMP
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brandon Carter]
President Donald Trump and CNN’s Jim Acosta traded barbs when the reporter pressed President Trump to take questions about his response to the weekend white supremacist rally in Charlottesville (VA). President Trump made a statement earlier on Aug 14 and said that “racism is evil” and specifically criticized the KKK, Nazis and other groups that organized the rally for the first time. But he did not take questions from reporters, despite later calling it a "press conference." At a second announcement later in the day, President Trump said he is launching an investigation into China’s trade practices. As that announcement ended, Acosta asked Trump if reporters could ask him questions about his remarks on Charlottesville. “It doesn’t bother me at all, but I like real news, not fake news,” President Trump said, pointing at Acosta. “You’re fake news.” “Haven’t you spread a lot of fake news yourself, sir?” Acosta shot back.
benton.org/headlines/cnn-reporter-trump-havent-you-spread-lot-fake-news-yourself | Hill, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
SENATE LEADERS WANT LIFELINE ABUSE INVESTIGATIONS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
A bipartisan quartet of Senators want the Government Accountability Office to fork over some details about the waste, fraud and abuse it identified in the Federal Communications Commission-administered Lifeline low-income broadband subsidy program. Sens Tom Carper (D-DE), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) sent the letter to the GAO asking it to send to the FCC and the FCC inspector general (currently David Hunt) details on the specific instances it identified in a report on Lifeline released by McCaskill in June. They want the FCC IG to be able to identify and pursue the culprits if warranted. The senators also added a plug for the GAO report's recommendations on how the FCC can improve oversight of the program, something new chairman Ajit Pai has long called for. They also want GAO to turn over the results of its undercover testing of the Lifeline program to the committee.
benton.org/headlines/senate-leaders-want-lifeline-abuse-investigations | Broadcasting&Cable
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OWNERSHIP
DEMOCRATIC REPS PRESS FCC FOR ANSWERS ON SINCLAIR
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Harper Neidig]
House Commerce Committee Ranking Democratic Reps are demanding answers from the Federal Communications Commission about its “favorable treatment” of Sinclair Broadcast Group, which has been cashing in on a series of agency moves that are easing restrictions on its control of local television stations. In a 12-page letter sent to Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Aug 14, Reps Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) seized on multiple media reports detailing how the agency has been delivering on Sinclair’s deregulatory wish list. “We hope this letter will serve as an opportunity to respond to reports suggesting you have failed to exercise adequate independence as FCC Chairman and that may have resulted in the agency giving unusual and possibly preferential treatment to Sinclair," the three Democrats wrote. They asked Pai to come forward with more information about his office’s contacts with the White House and Sinclair on proceedings related to the broadcaster. They want any correspondence between Pai's office and Sinclair, including any lobbyists or lawyers, and whether Sinclair requested a short time frame.
benton.org/headlines/democratic-reps-press-fcc-answers-sinclair | Hill, The | B&C | read the letter
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POLICYMAKERS
COMMISSIONER CARR ANNOUNCES STAFF
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced the appointment of four individuals that will serve in his office in acting capacities:
Nirali Patel, Acting Legal Advisor for Media, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement. Patel will advise Commissioner Carr on media, consumer protection, and enforcement matters. Patel is on detail from the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, where she serves as a Deputy Chief of the Competition Policy Division. Before joining the Commission, Patel served as Counsel in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications practice of Hogan Lovells US LLP. Prior to that, she practiced communications law at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Sidley Austin LLP. Patel graduated summa cum laude from the American University Washington College of Law and received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Kevin Holmes, Acting Legal Advisor for Wireless and Public Safety. Holmes will advise Commissioner Carr on wireless and public safety issues. Holmes joins the office from the FCC’s Office of Legislative Affairs, where he worked on spectrum, mobile broadband, and public safety issues. Previously, Holmes worked in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, both as an interim Legal Advisor in the Office of the Bureau Chief and as an Attorney Advisor in the Broadband Division. Earlier in his career, Holmes was a legislative aide to Senator Spencer Abraham. Holmes holds an LL.M. in Law and Government from the American University Washington College of Law, a J.D. from the DePaul University College of Law, and a B.A. from Kalamazoo College.
Nathan Eagan, Acting Wireline Legal Advisor. Eagan will advise Commissioner Carr on wireline issues. Eagan joins the office from the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, where he most recently served as a Legal Advisor in the Telecommunications Access Policy Division. He came to the Commission through the agency’s Attorney Honors Program, and he has worked on a variety of issues, including universal service and broadband deployment. Eagan received his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School, where he was a George Washington Scholar and an Articles Editor for the Federal Communications Bar Journal. He received his undergraduate degree from Clark University, in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Natalie Martinez, Acting Confidential Assistant. For the past three years, Martinez has served as the Confidential Assistant to three successive General Counsels of the FCC. Before that, she served as the Confidential Assistant to the Chief of the Enforcement Bureau for four years. She began her career at the FCC in 2001 as an Office Automation Clerk in the International Bureau.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-commissioner-brendan-carr-announces-staff | Federal Communications Commission | Multichannel News
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