BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2016
Today's Events:
New America panel, "Fighting ISIS in the Information Space" -- https://www.benton.org/node/243508
House Science Committee markup of "National Institute of Standards and Technology Campus Security Act" -- https://www.benton.org/node/243793
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Keeping Internet governance out of the wrong hands - op-ed
CBO Scores Internet of Things Bill [links to Benton summary]
Savage (MN) is test site for Mediacom community Wi-Fi project [links to Benton summary]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Attorney General Accepts Recommendation Not to Charge Hillary Clinton [links to New York Times]
FBI Chief to Explain Recommendation on Hillary Clinton Before Congress [links to New York Times]
US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit may have just added to Clinton’s email woes in a big way [links to Washington Post]
Court: Officials can't use private e-mail accounts to evade records laws
LABOR
House passes two tech investment bills
Gretchen Carlson of Fox News Files Harassment Suit Against Roger Ailes [links to New York Times]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Broadband Privacy Plan Opponents Flood FCC
Sec of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson pushes cyber reorganization
Password-sharing case divides Ninth Circuit in Nosal II - WaPo op-ed [links to Benton summary]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC Reaches $2.4M Settlement for Wireless 911 Outages in Alaska [links to Federal Communications Commission]
CBO Scores Bill that would Update Spectrum Auction Procedures - [links to Benton summary]
OWNERSHIP
Gannett Buys The Record of Bergen County, NJ [links to New York Times]
CBS Plans to Spin Off Radio Business [links to Wall Street Journal]
TELEVISION
Comcast says it’s “not feasible” to comply with FCC cable box rules [links to Ars Technica]
American Cable Association to FCC: Boost DBS Fee ASAP [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
So-So Players’ Salaries Soar in NBA Flush With New TV Money [links to New York Times]
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Trump, Saddam and why people mistrust the media - analysis [links to Benton summary]
ADVERTISING
Mobile Video Revenue to Rise to $25 Billion, Advertising Represents 67% of Total [links to Benton summary]
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
FCC Commissioner Pai Sends Letters to State Commissioners - press release
COMPANY NEWS
Verizon's new plans raise prices for more data [links to USAToday]
Comcast Adds WiFi Camera, Voice Control to XFinity Home [links to Multichannel News]
Boingo and Amazon Team to Deliver Fast, Free Wi-Fi to Amazon Underground Customers [links to Boingo]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
European telecoms groups unveil 5G manifesto
European Union’s First Cybersecurity Law Gets Green Light [links to Bloomberg]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
INTERNET GOVERNANCE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mark Lagon, Eileen Donahoe]
[Commentary] As Freedom House has documented, Internet freedom is in decline, as censorship and online surveillance expands around the world. Authoritarian governments seek United Nations regulation or agreements among states to justify their Internet restrictions and wall off parts of their country's Internet from outside influence. To defend Internet freedom, the US government has wisely focused on keeping global Internet governance out of their control and instead leaving the internet's key technical functions to engineers, business and civil society, whose mission is to preserve the internet as an open, globally interconnected platform. The US government would do well to continue this policy by completing the transition to a fully privatized internet Domain Name System.
[Lagon is president of Freedom House and served as U.S. ambassador to Combat Human Trafficking under former President George W. Bush. Donahoe is an officer of the Freedom House Board and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council under President Obama.]
benton.org/headlines/keeping-internet-governance-out-wrong-hands | Hill, The
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
COURT: OFFICIALS CAN'T USE PRIVATE E-MIL ACCOUNTS TO EVADE RECORDS LAWS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Megan Wilson]
Federal officials may not use private e-mail accounts to get around public records laws, a federal judge ruled June 5. The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit overturned a lower court decision in which judges dismissed claims from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a conservative think tank that attempted to obtain correspondence from a top White House official through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) said it did not need to search for or turn over records held by the head of the OSTP on a private e-mail account as part of the open records request. Throughout the case, the government argued that “[d]ocuments on a nongovernmental e-mail server are outside the possession or control of federal agencies, and thus beyond the scope of FOIA.” Judge David Sentelle, the chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, disagreed with that reasoning and ordered the lower court to reconsider the case. “If a department head can deprive the citizens of their right to know what his department is up to by the simple expedient of maintaining his departmental e-mails on an account in another domain, that purpose is hardly served,” Judge Sentelle wrote. “It would make as much sense to say that the department head could deprive requestors of hard-copy documents by leaving them in a file at his daughter’s house and then claiming that they are under her control,” he said.
benton.org/headlines/court-officials-cant-use-private-e-mail-accounts-evade-records-laws | Hill, The
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LABOR
HOUSE PASSES TWO TECH INVESTMENT BILLS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: David McCabe]
The House passed two bills aimed at improving conditions for startup investing. The Fix Crowdfunding Act (HR 4855) raises the amount that a company can crowdfund, from $1 million to $5 million. A 2012 law opened up the rules for crowdfunded investments, but Republicans say the rules still need to be tweaked. The bill was approved by a vote of 394-4. “These bills today are targeted fixes to restore the original spirit of the JOBS Act: To harness innovation and bring together millions of Americans with potential new businesses through crowdfunding,” Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said. The new crowdfunding rules went into effect earlier in 2016, after being formally approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2015. The second bill, Supporting America’s Innovators Act (HR 4854), would expand the legal limit on investors in venture funds doing early-stage funding that can help a company get off the ground — called angel investing — to 250 from 100. The legislation passed 388-9. Both bills are part of a House GOP initiative focused on passing bills related to the tech industry and innovation in the months before November’s elections. Democrats have backed a similar initiative.
benton.org/headlines/house-passes-two-tech-investment-bills | Hill, The
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SECURITY/PRIVACY
BROADBAND PRIVACY PLAN OPPONENTS FLOOD FCC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Protect Internet Freedom coalition said those with concerns about the Federal Communications Commission's proposal on broadband privacy have submitted over a quarter of a million comments to the FCC as of June 6, which is the deadline. The group said that was the total that had been submitted from its online platform. Given that the FCC's online docket showed 271,473 comments (218,198 in the last 30 days alone), the group was concluding that "despite all of the setbacks and glitches, opposition comments are still in the overwhelming majority of total comments filed." The FCC has had some problems with comment backlogs across all its dockets, including broadband privacy, due to an aging system that has recently been replaced. PIF complained to the FCC about the backlog.
benton.org/headlines/broadband-privacy-plan-opponents-flood-fcc | Broadcasting&Cable
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DHS HEAD PUSHES CYBER REORGANIZATION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Katie Bo Williams]
Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson stumped for a proposed reorganization of the division of his agency responsible for protecting critical infrastructure from digital threats. “We've asked for a reorganization from Congress,” Johnson told the Senate Judiciary Committee during a June 30 on oversight of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). “I know the House Homeland Committee is considering it and possibly drafting language. And if this is something the Senate would consider, I think it would go a long way to addressing both cyber and the protection of critical infrastructure.” Specifically, Sec Johnson wants to replace the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) within the DHS with a new operational agency tasked with protecting the computer networks that run the nation’s power grid, water utilities and more. The agency, along with many lawmakers, see the move as way to smooth bureaucratic barriers within the DHS. But the proposed reorganization, in the works for over a year, has been a point of tension between the agency and Congress.
benton.org/headlines/sec-homeland-security-jeh-johnson-pushes-cyber-reorganization | Hill, The
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
LIFELINE LETTERS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai]
Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai sent letters to commissioners at Public Utility Commissions of Oregon, Texas, and California as well as the Vermont Public Service Department. The states each run their own Lifeline accountability databases. Commissioner Pai said he is seeking their aid in “combating the waste, fraud, and abuse that has riddled the Universal Service Fund’s Lifeline program since wireless resellers began participating in this program.” He asks several questions about how the states run their databases. He asks for a reply by August 2, 2016.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-commissioner-pai-sends-letters-state-commissioners | Federal Communications Commission
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
5G MANIFESTO
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Duncan Robinson]
Europe’s largest wireless carriers have pledged to launch superfast 5G networks in at least one city in every European Union country by 2020, as part of a manifesto signed by the heads of BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia and Vodafone among others. But as a quid pro quo for more investment, controversial new EU rules on net neutrality should be watered down, according to the document signed by 17 different companies. In the document, the telecoms groups threaten to postpone investment unless regulators offer more light-touch arrangements.
benton.org/headlines/european-telecoms-groups-unveil-5g-manifesto | Financial Times
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