Press Release

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report finding that deceased individuals had enrolled in the program and noting that GAO could not confirm the eligibility of 36 percent of the subscribers it reviewed. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement in response: “Last year, I led an investigation into the Lifeline program that revealed serious weaknesses in federal safeguards. Today’s GAO report confirms what we discovered then: Waste, fraud, and abuse are all too prevalent in the program. Commission staff and the Office of Inspector General have already been developing recommendations to better safeguard taxpayer funds. I stand ready to work with my colleagues to crack down on the unscrupulous providers that abuse the program so that the dollars we spend support affordable, high-speed broadband Internet access for our nation’s poorest families"

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the agency has chosen Wayne Leighton as chief of the FCC’s Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, continuing the work he has been doing as acting chief. Prior to serving as acting chief, Leighton served as a senior economist in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and as wireless advisor to then-FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. Prior to his FCC service, Leighton worked for an economic consulting firm, was senior economist with the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and has been a professor of economics at Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala. He earned a doctorate in economics from George Mason University and undergraduate degrees in business and economics from Texas A&M University.

New America announces its first class of Public Interest Technology Fellows. Fellows will come to New America from across private and public-sector organizations, including Facebook, Google, and the United States Digital Service at the White House. Together, they will work to influence demand for technology expertise among public interest organizations by building concrete examples that show the transformative impact of bringing technologists onto their teams. The goal of the initiative is to build a long-term, robust infrastructure that allows advocates, service providers, and leaders to harness the power of technology in serving communities.

[Commentary] Donald Trump won the presidency by assuring voters he could do everything, and do it quickly. Much of his presidency so far has been spent covering up the fact that he can’t. And we keep learning a painful lesson: There’s not much we can do about it.

There’s a term for the sort of military strikes insurgent groups and underpowered forces employ: asymmetric warfare. As it turns out, Donald Trump was eminently prepared to launch an asymmetric warfare campaign against the institutions of American democracy, nowhere more effectively than against the media. His career — part salesman, part showman, part hustler — taught him a key lesson that, as it turns out, was as effective against the media as an IED could be against a military caravan: Never admit you’re wrong.

President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Peter Davidson to be General Counsel of the Department of Commerce. Davidson recently served as Senior Vice President for Congressional Relations at Verizon Communications, and prior to that, as General Counsel to the United States Trade Representative. He has also served as Vice President for Congressional Relations at USWEST and Qwest, General Counsel and Policy Director to the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Attorney-advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice, director of congressional and media relations at the United States Information Agency, staff to Reps Dick Armey (R-TX) and Bill Frenzel (R-MN), and law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Davidson has degrees from Carleton College and The University of Virginia School of Law, where he served as Notes Editor on the Law Review. He was raised in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin and currently resides in Virginia with his wife Kari, and they have three children: Madeleine, Sophie, and Björn.

[Commentary] Recently, without any reference to the Net Neutrality debate, the cable industry trade association NCTA made the unsurprising observation that broadband speeds in the US continue to rise, as they always have. Seeing all things through the lens of Net Neutrality, Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld immediately laid claim to the trend, asserting that the data in NCTA’s post supports the FCC’s reclassification decision. According to Feld, the speed trend confirms that the “Title II Virtuous Circle” is “totally working” because “the rate of increase has accelerated since the FCC adopted the Title II Reclassification Order in February 2015.”

Feld sets up a direct test of the wisdom of Title II reclassification based on the pace of speed increases following the 2015 Open Internet Order. An empirical question requires an empirical answer. Using the Akamai speed data, Ford subjects Feld’s “theorem” to a battery of statistical tests. Without exception, the data reveal a statistically significant decline in the rate of average broadband speed increases for the US subsequent to the 2015 Open Internet Order. Ford finds that “but for” the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order, US broadband speeds would have been about 10% higher—or about 1.5 Mbps faster—on average. Thus, in direct contradiction to Feld’s claim, reclassification appears to have significantly retarded expected broadband speed increases.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors 2016 Annual Report details the agency’s activities and growing impact around the world. As detailed in the report, the BBG networks have played a critical role in supporting the pursuit of freedom and democracy, providing balanced election coverage for voters in emerging and fragile democracies; life-saving information to the hundreds of thousands of people trying to flee oppression, war and economic strife; and clear, unbiased and uncensored news to people living under authoritarian regimes and violent extremists. BBG networks are news leaders, covering stories left untold in environments that lack press freedom and fostering civil dialogue in places overwhelmed with disinformation. They are leading channels for information about the United States as well as independent platforms for freedom of expression and a free press.

The week of June 19 was Technology Week at the White House, and the Trump Administration held events focusing on modernizing government technology and stimulating the technology sector.

That Monday, June 19, the White House invited major tech leaders and university presidents for the inaugural summit of the American Technology Council. Hosted by the White House's Office of American Innovation, the event consisted of multiple breakout sessions to discuss ways to modernize the government by retiring out-of-date legacy systems and increasing the use of shared services. On Tuesday, United States Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn held a listening session with technology leaders to discuss tax reform in the United States and the implications of a new tax plan on the technology sector. On Wednesday, President Trump traveled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He toured Kirkwood Community College and spoke about agricultural innovation and empowering the American farmer. On Thursday, the White House hosted the American Leadership in Emerging Technology Event, where American tech industry leaders demonstrated technologies like advanced drones and 5G wireless networks to the President. On Friday, President Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017. After a successful week of addressing American innovation and meeting with leaders of the technology sector, next week the Trump Administration will turn its focus to energy.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement following the President’s announcement that he will include expanding rural high-speed Internet access in his infrastructure proposal. “I am grateful to President Trump for his leadership on expanding high-speed Internet access in rural America. Far too many families and businesses in rural communities do not have access to adequate broadband, limiting their opportunities in the digital age. Closing the digital divide needs to be a national priority, and the President’s decision to include rural broadband in his infrastructure plan holds great promise for creating more jobs and prosperity in our nation’s rural areas.”

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the July Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 13, 2017:

1. Call Authentication Trust Anchor – The Commission will consider a Notice of Inquiry that seeks comment on methods to authenticate telephone calls to further secure our telephone networks against illegal robocallers. The Notice seeks comment on implementing authentication standards for telephone calls, as well as the Commission’s role in this process and other public policy considerations. (WC Docket No. 17-97)
2. Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls – The Commission will consider a Notice of Inquiry that explores methods by which reassigned telephone number data could be made available to callers to avoid making unwanted calls to consumers. (CG Docket No. 17-59)
3. Protecting Consumers from Unauthorized Carrier Changes and Related Unauthorized Charges – The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking outlining steps to further curtail slamming and cramming. (CG Docket No. 17-169)
4. Rural Call Completion - The Commission will consider a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes rule changes to better address ongoing problems in the completion of long-distance telephone calls to rural areas. The Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposes to (1) adopt new rural call completion requirements for covered providers, and (2) eliminate the Commission’s existing rural call completion recording, retention, and reporting rules. (WC Docket No. 13-39)
5. Video Description – The Commission will consider a Report and Order which increases the required hours of video described programming that covered broadcast stations and MVPDs must provide to consumers. (MB Docket No. 11-43)
6. Updating the Part 2 Equipment Authorization Program – The Commission will consider a First Report and Order that would update and amend its equipment authorization program by replacing two certification procedures with a new Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity process, codifying procedures for the electronic labeling of devices, modernizing the requirements related to the importation of electronic equipment, and incorporating up-to-date methods for equipment compliance measurements into the rules. (ET Docket No. 15-170)
7. Radar Services in the 76-81 GHz Band – The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would address use of the 76-81 GHz band under the Part 95 rules to support a broad range of vehicular radar uses, such as collision avoidance and adaptive cruise control systems, as well as to expand the types of fixed and mobile radar operations permitted within airport environments. (ET Docket No. 15-26)
8. Wireless Microphone Operations – The Commission will consider an Order on Reconsideration and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would address licensed and unlicensed wireless microphone operations in the TV bands and various other frequency bands. (GN Docket No. 14-166; ET Docket No. 14-165)