BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2017
Today's Events:
- TecTalk with Rep. Blackburn on Broadband Infrastructure, US Chamber of Commerce -- https://www.benton.org/node/259733
- Consumer Advisory Committee, FCC -- https://www.benton.org/node/259017
NEWS FROM THE FCC MEETING
FCC Reopens Net Neutrality Debate, Seeking “Substantive” Public Comment
Reporter says security 'manhandled' him after he asked FCC questions
Benton Joins Racial Justice, Civil Liberties and Digital Rights Groups to Urge FCC Not to Harm Lifeline Program - press release
Editorial: Here we go again. The FCC is trying to kill net neutrality rules [links to Los Angeles Times]
Ajit Pai’s dream of killing net neutrality may soon turn into a nightmare
Sen Thune: Time for Net Neutrality Regulation [links to Benton summary]
Democratic Lawmakers are readying an all-out war to stop the FCC from killing net neutrality rules [links to Vox]
Here's How Trump's FCC Is Threatening Your Free Speech [links to Vice]
Hey Startups, It’s Your Duty to Fight for Net Neutrality [links to Wired]
Stakeholders Diverge on Effects of Looming Net Neutrality Change [links to Morning Consult]
Judicial Watch Sues FCC Over Title II Documents
FCC Launches Review of Media Regulations - public notice
FCC Halts Rural Phone Rate Hike - press release [links to Benton summary]
FCC Proposes to Eliminate Main Studio Rule - press release [links to Benton summary]
FCC Modernizes Personal Radio Services Rules - press release [links to Benton summary]
FCC Proposes to Streamline Rules for Earth Stations in Motion - press release [links to Benton summary]
Public Notice on Filing Comments on Advanced Methods to Target Robocalls - public notice [links to Benton summary]
Final Report on March 8, 2017 AT&T Mobility VoLTE 911 Outage - press release
It Is Time to Take the FCC to Court: 5 Issues Beyond Net Neutrality [links to Huffington Post]
COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
Inside Russia’s Social Media War on America
Trump’s wish to jail reporters is more than possible. Ask his international friends.
Lieberman emerges as front-runner for FBI post [links to Politico]
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: Trump Has Crossed Dangerous Line [links to Benton summary]
In an Aside to Trump, Homeland Security Chief Suggests He Use Sword on the Press [links to New York Times]
Democratic Reps on Science Committee to President Trump: Stop Depending on Fake News [links to Benton summary]
Sen Durbin: Trump will ‘hang himself’ with tweets [links to Hill, The]
JOURNALISM
Roger Ailes’s death is a monumental moment for the media [links to Washington Post]
Q&A: Brooke Gladstone on the media, Trump, and truth [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
We tracked the Trump scandals on right-wing news sites. Here’s how they covered it. [links to Vox]
How to Read the Newspaper [links to National Review]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Any Half-Decent Hacker Could Break Into Mar-a-Lago [links to ProPublica]
Their code was used to hack Sony and create 'WannaCry.' Meet the 'Lazarus Group,' the armed robbers of the Internet [links to Los Angeles Times]
Senate Staffers Can Now Use Encryption App Signal [links to nextgov]
Here’s How Facebook Knows Who You Meet In Real Life [links to Vocativ]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Minnesota hosts National Net Inclusion conference – and we got to show off a little [links to Blandin Foundation]
Kansas City Maps Data Related to Digital Inclusion [links to Benton summary]
OWNERSHIP
SiriusXM in discussions to acquire struggling Pandora [links to New York Post]
ADVERTISING
New Evidence Google Facebook Ad Cartel Crushing Competition Market Failing [links to Scott Cleland]
LABOR
Trump administration takes formal step to launch renegotiation of NAFTA [links to Los Angeles Times]
EDUCATION
Harnessing the Power of the Cellphone in Class [links to Education Week]
Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft: How 4 Tech Titans Are Reshaping the Ed-Tech Landscape [links to Education Week]
Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft Battle for K-12 Market, and Loyalties of Educators [links to Education Week]
CONTENT
The next looming battle in the tech world will be based around digital assistants [links to Vox]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FirstNet: The Wait Is Almost Over - press release [links to Benton summary]
POLICYMAKERS
Presentation of Charles Benton Digital Equity Award to Emy Tseng - speech
Roger Ailes, Who Built Fox News Into an Empire
‘Television is not a gimmick’: How Roger Ailes made Richard Nixon likable [links to Washington Post]
Roger Ailes: The Man Who Mined a Divided America [links to New York Times]
Roger Ailes is dead. His scourge will live for decades. [links to Washington Post]
George H W Bush: 'Not sure I would have been president without' Ailes [links to Hill, The]
Scandal overshadows Ailes death for some media [links to Hill, The]
How the Right and Left (and Everyone Else) Reacted to Roger Ailes’s Death [links to New York Times]
Jenner & Block Staffs Up With Top FCC Staffers [links to Benton summary]
COMPANY NEWS
Roger Ailes leaves behind a much-diminished Fox News [links to Washington Post]
The 10 and a Half Months That Shook Fox News [links to New York Times]
AT&T Awarded $119M, 5-year Contract to Support Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [links to AT&T]
AT&T’s DirecTV reportedly faces 4,000 complaints linked to overcharges, broken promo promises [links to Fierce]
New York Times and Washington Post Keep Breaking Traffic Records [links to AdWeek]
With its wireless broadband, Webpass is cord cutters' gateway to the Internet [links to Los Angeles Times]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Chinese state outlet blames US for ‘WannaCry’ ransomware [links to Hill, The]
América Móvil aims to roll out 4.5G network in Mexico by end of 2017 [links to Financial Times]
NEWS FROM THE FCC MEETING
NET NEUTRALITY DEBATE
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
On May 18, 2017, the Republican commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission voted to reopen the debate over how to best preserve an Open Internet. Launching a proceeding seeking “substantive” public comment, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai proposed undoing the only legal basis for network neutrality rules that has survived court challenge. The unreleased Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposes to reverse the FCC’s 2015 ruling that the transmission component of broadband Internet access service (BIAS) is a telecommunications service. The NPRM also proposes to 1) return to the FCC’s original classification of mobile broadband Internet access service as a private mobile service; and 2) eliminate the Internet conduct standard created by the 2015 Order. Finally, the NPRM questions the need for the FCC’s so-called “bright-line rules” which prohibit broadband providers from a) blocking access to legal content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices; b) impairing or degrading lawful Internet traffic on the basis of content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices; and c) favoring some lawful Internet traffic over other lawful traffic in exchange for consideration of any kind—in other words, no "fast lanes." FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the rewrite would undo the current rules’ overreach, and help spur investment in broadband, which he claims has suffered because broadband providers told him so. "The Internet was not broken in 2015," Chairman Pai said, repeating his often-chosen turn of phrase. "The utility-style regulations known as Title II were and are like the proverbial sledgehammer being wielded against the flea. Except that here, there was no flea." Chairman Pai and his Republican colleague, Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, said the new review of net neutrality will include a cost-benefit analysis, which they say wasn't done in 2015.
https://www.benton.org/blog/fcc-reopens-net-neutrality-debate-seeking-su...
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REPORTER REMOVED FROM FCC
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Olivia Beavers]
Security guards reportedly “manhandled” an award-winning reporter after he asked Federal Communications Commission officials questions at a public hearing, according to a National Press Club statement. John Donnelly, a journalist at CQ Roll Call, was removed from the scheduled press conference by security after he attempted to ask FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Michael O’Rielly questions before they arrived at the podium. Donnelly said two guards, using the backs of their bodies, pinned him to the wall while commissioners passed. They then escorted him out of the event. “I could not have been less threatening or more polite,” Donnelly said. “There is no justification for using force in such a situation.” The security at the monthly open meeting was unusually high as the FCC voted on the high profile issue of net neutrality. “[W]e apologized to Mr. Donnelly more than once and let him know that the FCC was on heightened alert today based on several threats,” a spokesman for the FCC said.
benton.org/headlines/reporter-says-security-manhandled-him-after-he-asked-fcc-questions | Hill, The | National Press Club | ars technica
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BENTON JOINS GROUPS URGING FCC NOT TO HARM LIFELINE PROGRAM
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Press release]
May 18 the Federal Communications Commission voted 2–-1 to initiate a notice of proposed rulemaking pertaining to its Network Neutrality rules. We are concerned about the possible impact of this rulemaking on the Lifeline program’s support for broadband service. We care deeply about the Lifeline broadband program because it mitigates the affordability barrier to broadband services in our homes — which is particularly acute for low-income people and people of color — and because broadband access removes barriers to educational, emergency, and civil services and job opportunities. We strongly support the FCC's recent Lifeline modernization order, which added stand-alone broadband internet service to Lifeline. We urge the Commission to ensure that nothing in this rulemaking will harm, impair, or weaken the ability of the Lifeline program to help low-income families to afford broadband service so that they can take part in the modern economy. We also urge the Commission to avoid any shift in Lifeline resources or policy that distracts from the program's core goal of defraying the cost of communications services.
benton.org/headlines/benton-joins-racial-justice-civil-liberties-and-digital-rights-groups-urge-fcc-not-harm | Benton Foundation
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PAIS NN DREAM MAY TURN TO NIGHTMARE
[SOURCE: Vice, AUTHOR: Noah Kulwin]
It’s entirely possible Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal will die before being implemented. The first obstacle could arrive as soon as July. Should Democratic-leaning FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn leave the FCC at the end of June as expected, it would leave the body one commissioner short of a quorum, meaning the FCC wouldn’t be able to vote on Chairman Pai’s proposal. (Adding commissioners would likely mean picking yet another fight with congressional Democrats.) The 1946 Administrative Procedure Act bars “capricious” rulemaking at federal agencies, and experts anticipate credible legal challenges against Chairman Pai’s proposal for not rising above that standard, especially because of how the FCC has bungled public comment.
benton.org/headlines/ajit-pais-dream-killing-net-neutrality-may-soon-turn-nightmare | Vice
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JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FCC OVER TITLE II DOCUMENTS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Conservative group Judicial Watch has filed suit against the Federal Communications Commission to get documents it says the commission has not produced in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. On the same day the FCC was voting to launch the rollback of Title II classification, the group said the commission had failed to turn over records related to the 2015 Internet Order that imposed Title II and the White House's influence on the decision. The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia after the group says the FCC failed to respond to two FOIA requests. Both those requests were made under new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who has also accused the White House of pressuring the FCC to move to Title II, including referring to the Open Internet order as Obama's rules.
benton.org/headlines/judicial-watch-sues-fcc-over-title-ii-documents | Multichannel News
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FCC LAUNCHES REVIEW OF MEDIA REGULATIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public notice]
The Federal Communications Commission issued a Public Notice that begins a review of its rules applicable to media entities, including broadcasters, cable operators, and satellite television providers. The FCC’s action invites public comment on which media rules should be modified or eliminated as unnecessary or burdensome. Through this review, the FCC seeks to reduce regulations that can stand in the way of competition, innovation, and investment in the media marketplace. The Commission also seeks input regarding specific rules from which small businesses should receive regulatory relief. Today’s media entities are subject to a multitude of regulations, many of which are decades old.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-launches-review-media-regulations | Federal Communications Commission | Press release | Pai Statement | Clyburn Statement | O'Rielly Statement | Broadcasting&Cable
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REPORT ON MARCH 8 ATT MOBILITY OUTAGE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
On the afternoon of March 8th, 2017, nearly all AT&T Mobility (AT&T) Voice over LTE customers across the nation lost 911 service for five hours. This report presents the Federal Communications Commission's findings on the investigation. Among the lessons learned from the March 8th outage is that when 911 service fails for any reason, Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) play a critical role in advising their jurisdictions of alternative ways to reach help. While AT&T and their subcontractors, Comtech and West, made efforts to notify thousands of PSAPs, the notifications were often unclear or missing important information, and generally took a few hours to occur. This outage also offers an illuminating case study that illustrates actions that stakeholders can take to promote network reliability and continued access to 911 service. For example, the March 8th outage emphasizes the importance of auditing all network assets critical to the provision of 911 service, and ensuring that such assets are safeguarded and designed to avoid single points of failure. The outage also demonstrates the need for closer coordination between industry and PSAPs, to improve overall situational awareness and ensure consumers understand how best to reach emergency services.
benton.org/headlines/final-report-march-8-2017-att-mobility-volte-911-outage | Federal Communications Commission | Pai Statement
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COMMUNICATIONS & DEMOCRACY
INSIDE RUSSIA'S SOCIAL MEDIA WAR ON AMERICA
[SOURCE: Time, AUTHOR: Massimo Calabresi]
On March 2, a disturbing report hit the desks of US counterintelligence officials in Washington. For months, American spy hunters had scrambled to uncover details of Russia's influence operation against the 2016 presidential election. In offices in both DC and suburban Virginia, they had created massive wall charts to track the different players in Russia's multipronged scheme. But the report in early March was something new. It described how Russia had already moved on from the rudimentary e-mail hacks against politicians it had used in 2016. Now the Russians were running a more sophisticated hack on Twitter. The report said the Russians had sent expertly tailored messages carrying malware to more than 10,000 Twitter users in the Defense Department. Depending on the interests of the targets, the messages offered links to stories on recent sporting events or the Oscars, which had taken place the previous weekend. When clicked, the links took users to a Russian-controlled server that downloaded a program allowing Moscow's hackers to take control of the victim's phone or computer--and Twitter account.
benton.org/headlines/inside-russias-social-media-war-america | Time
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JAILING REPORTERS MORE THAN POSSIBLE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Margaret Sullivan]
President Donald Trump warmly welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House. Just hours later, we found out that President Trump would like to put reporters in jail. There’s a connection here. And it’s not good news for America’s journalists or the citizens who depend on them to hold their government accountable. Both as a candidate and as president, President Trump has shown no regard for the role of a free press in a democracy. New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet told me he found appalling Trump’s suggestion, but not entirely surprising. “He doesn’t understand our role. He wants ‘Fox & Friends’ coverage instead,” Baquet said. So Trump’s embrace of Erdogan — who may be the leading jailer of journalists in the world — should come as no surprise. The same goes for his regard for the leadership of Russian President Vladi¬mir Putin or Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, clear enemies of a free press in their countries.
benton.org/headlines/trumps-wish-jail-reporters-more-possible-ask-his-international-friends | Washington Post
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POLICYMAKERS
EMY TSENG
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Adrianne Furniss]
I am so honored today to present the second annual Charles Benton Digital Equity Champion Award. Charles’ life was a testament to the principle that real change is the result of sustained effort. He saw in communications a tool that can and should be employed to make communities better, to help people thrive, and to improve our democracy. He was a consistent champion for digital inclusion and the idea that every member of a community should have affordable access, and the required skills, to make use of the latest communications technologies. From MIT to the Ford Foundation; from Zero Divide to the City and County of San Francisco; from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband USA to the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, Emy Tseng’s work embodies a “sustained commitment to digital inclusion programs, practices, and policy work.” Practitioner, policy leader, researcher, funder, program partner: these are the varied roles Emy has played. Her impact stretches from the San Francisco Bay area, throughout the United States, and to many countries abroad. Near and dear to my heart is Emy’s service to the nation through the Broadband Opportunities Technology Program.
https://www.benton.org/blog/presentation-charles-benton-digital-equity-a...
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ROGER AILES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Clyde Haberman]
Roger E Ailes, who shaped the images that helped elect three Republican presidents and then became a dominant, often-intimidating force in American conservative politics at the helm of Fox News until he was forced out in a sexual predation scandal, died on May 18. He was 77. No cause of death or other details were given in an announcement by Ailes’s wife, Elizabeth. Ailes was a hemophiliac long plagued by obesity and arthritis.
benton.org/headlines/roger-ailes-who-built-fox-news-empire-dies-77 | New York Times
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