February 7, 2017 (Prison Phones Rates)

COMMUNICATIONS AND DEMOCRACY

TRUMP, JUDGE GORSUCH, AND INDEPENDENCE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Robert Barnes]
President Trump’s Twitter assault on the “so-called judge” who put a nationwide hold on the president’s executive order on immigration has motivated Democrats to challenge Trump’s choice for the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, on an important but elusive issue. Is Judge Gorsuch independent enough, they ask, to stand up to the president who picked him? As the legal battle over Trump’s immigration directive shows, Gorsuch’s nomination lands at a time when the Supreme Court is likely to be called upon to review what Trump already has shown to be a broad reliance on executive power. It is difficult for appeals court judges such as Gorsuch to point to past decisions to demonstrate independence, and few are called upon to make definitive rulings on a president’s powers.
benton.org/headlines/trumps-blasts-judge-raise-questions-gorsuch-independence | Washington Post
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA

PSYCHOGRAPHIC TARGETING
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Kaila Colbin]
[Commentary] You wake up, yawn, stretch. Pick up the phone. Check Facebook. “Like.” “Like.” “Like,” again. After 10 “likes,” Michal Kosinski knows you better than your work colleagues. After 70, he knows you better than your partner does, including -- whether these things were explicitly referenced in your clicks or not -- your skin color, your sexual orientation, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, whether you smoke or do drugs… The list goes on. Like some creepy alt-Santa, he knows how open you are. Whether you’re a perfectionist. Whether you’re considerate. Whether you’re neurotic. Kosinski isn’t a CIA agent or a spy. He isn’t even a marketer. He’s a researcher at Stanford, and he’s worked out how to turn your clicks into psychographic profiles. Kosinski’s technique is similar to the technique used by the company Cambridge Analytica to help the Brexit and Trump campaigns win.
benton.org/headlines/still-wondering-how-trump-won-try-psychographic-targeting | MediaPost
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS

PRISON PHONE RATES
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Colin Lecher]
In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission moved in to cap what many consider to be exorbitant rates for inmate phone calls. Shortly thereafter, the agency was sued by the prison phone industry, which challenged the agency’s authority to set rates for calls within state lines. The lawsuit has been advancing, but the presidential election brought a new administration to the White House. Ajit Pai, the new, Donald Trump-appointed Chairman of the FCC, said in a letter that the agency would no longer defend the agency’s in-state rate caps in court. Although that would seem to suggest a legal win by default for the phone industry, that’s not the case. Instead, a hearing continued as scheduled, with the FCC simply refusing to make its case. Other parties, however, continue to advocate for the caps in court, with the FCC on the sidelines. “It’s harder than usual to figure out what’s going on,” says Georgetown law professor Andrew Schwartzman, who argued for the rate caps in front of the court. “I’m not at all sure, however, that [Pai’s] letter… doesn’t have legal significance,” one member of the three-judge panel said as the court heard arguments. “There’s not a lot of precedent to deal with this kind of situation,” Schwartzman says.
benton.org/headlines/fccs-legal-battle-over-prison-phones-just-took-weird-turn | Verge, The
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INMATE CALLING SERVICES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn]
Today we took yet another step towards #PhoneJustice on behalf of the millions burdened by the egregious costs of communicating with a loved one who is currently incarcerated. I am grateful to the individuals who argued on behalf of justice for the inmates, their families and their legal representatives, and am confident that the court grasped the nuance of the legal arguments. Regardless of how the Court rules, I will continue to press forward to ensure that inmates and their families receive just, reasonable, and fair phone rates. Justice demands it, and so do I.
benton.org/headlines/statement-fcc-commissioner-mignon-clyburn-inmate-calling-services-oral-argument-dc-circuit | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC REFORM

PROCESS REFORM MEASURE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai]
During the past few years, the Chairman’s Office often briefed the press or published a blog about matters to be voted upon at the FCC’s monthly meetings before sharing those matters with Commissioners. As a Commissioner, I thought that actions like these were inappropriate and disrespectful of other Commissioners. Now, as Chairman, I still hold that view. Accordingly, I pledge that during my tenure as Chairman, my office will share with every Commissioner’s office every item that will be considered at an open meeting before anyone in my office discusses the content of those items publicly or the FCC releases the text of those documents. That is what we did with respect to the meeting items for the February 2017 meeting, and that is what we will continue to do in the months to come.
benton.org/headlines/statement-fcc-chairman-ajit-pai-announcing-process-reform-measure-benefit-fellow | Federal Communications Commission
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PRIVACY

E-MAIL PRIVACY ACT
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The House unanimously passed the E-mail Privacy Act.
A version of the bill, which boosts protections of information stored in the cloud, passed the House unanimously in the last session of Congress in April and supporters were hoping for clean passage in the Senate as well, but it was held over by the Senate Judiciary Committee after amendments were offered that could have undone a compromise approach. The baseline bill updates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to require the government to get a probable cause criminal warrant to access emails, social media posts and other online content stored in the cloud by internet service providers and other email service providers, like Google. In a nod to the longevity of cloud storage, it eliminates the 180-day sunset on stored communications. Previously a warrant was not required for communications stored beyond 180 days.
benton.org/headlines/house-passes-e-mail-privacy-act | Multichannel News
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

DIGITAL REPOSITORIES
[SOURCE: National Science Foundation, AUTHOR: Suzanne Plimpton]
The National Coordination Office for the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program and other agencies are holding a workshop of experts from government, private industry, and academia to help identify the current metrics, tools and practices that are effective, and the issues that will require additional research in order to measure the impact of digital repositories. : Managers, funders, and users of digital data repositories are interested in assessing and communicating the impact of such repositories. A systematic approach and well-understood metrics, that may be quantitative or qualitative in nature, are needed to determine ‘‘impact.’’ The goal of this workshop is to identify the current metrics, tools and practices that are effective, and the issues that will require additional research. The workshop will take place on February 28 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET and continue on March 1 from 8:00 a.m. 12:15 p.m. ET at the National Science Foundation.
benton.org/headlines/measuring-impact-digital-repositories | National Science Foundation
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February 7, 2017 (Prison Phones Rates)