Press Release

This Digital Playbook provides several core strategies for increasing digital equity and inclusion, ensuring that all community members will have the necessary resources for full participation in the economic, political, and civic opportunities available within Charlotte, North Carolina.

Team Internet is a network of volunteers combining people power with technology to mobilize people across the country to pressure their lawmakers to stand up for Net Neutrality. Free Press Action Fund, Demand Progress and Fight for the Future launched the project in July. Since then, Team Internet volunteers have spoken in person about Net Neutrality to 200 members of Congress or their staff at both town halls and in-district meetings.

Activists Iliana Gomez and Lesley Perg provide a critical backbone of support for Team Internet’s organizing infrastructure to make that happen. Since the end of August, they’ve done nearly all the work of the host-support team. This team has provided assistance to the scores of individuals — or hosts — who have organized meetings about Net Neutrality with their local congressional offices through Team Internet. Gomez and Perg call hosts and talk them through the details of their events, ensuring they have all the materials they need and are prepared to meet fellow activists and their lawmakers.

FirstNet is charged with establishing a nationwide public-safety broadband network that is reliable, secure, and interoperable. To inform this work, FirstNet is consulting with a variety of stakeholders. In March 2017, FirstNet awarded a 25-year contract to AT&T to build, operate, and maintain the network. FirstNet's oversight of AT&T's performance is important given the scope of the network and the duration of the contract. This testimony provides information on (1) FirstNet's efforts to establish the network; (2) stakeholder views on network reliability, security, and interoperability challenges FirstNet faces and its efforts to address them; and (3) FirstNet's plans to oversee its network contractor. This statement is based on GAO's June 2017 report.

For this report, GAO reviewed FirstNet documentation, key contract oversight practices identified in federal regulations and other sources, tribal communication practices identified by federal agencies, and assessed FirstNet's efforts and plans against these practices. GAO also interviewed FirstNet officials and a nongeneralizable selection of public safety, tribal, and other stakeholders selected to obtain a variety of viewpoints. In June 2017, GAO recommended that FirstNet fully explore tribal stakeholders' concerns and assess its long-term staffing needs. FirstNet agreed with GAO's recommendations and described actions to address them.

Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) called on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to reject any efforts by President Donald Trump or his administration to infringe on the First Amendment or undermine the independence of the FCC. On Oct 11, President Trump tweeted, “[w]ith all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” In his letter, Sen Markey asks Chairman Pai to provide any correspondence or communications from the White House or other members of the Trump administration that have encouraged the FCC to take action against a broadcaster.

The Federal Communications Commission has granted an experimental license for Project Loon, led by Google's parent company Alphabet, to help provide emergency cellular service in Puerto Rico.

“More than two weeks after Hurricane Maria struck, millions of Puerto Ricans are still without access to much-needed communications services,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “That’s why we need to take innovative approaches to help restore connectivity on the island. Project Loon is one such approach. It could help provide the people of Puerto Rico with access to cellular service to connect with loved ones and access life-saving information. I’m glad the FCC was able to grant this experimental license with dispatch and I urge wireless carriers to cooperate with Project Loon to maximize this effort’s chances of success.” Project Loon is a network of balloons that provides connectivity to users on the ground. Now that the experimental license has been approved, it will attempt to initiate service in Puerto Rico. Project Loon obtained consent agreements to use land mobile radio (LMR) radio spectrum in the 900 MHz band from existing carriers operating within Puerto Rico.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced the formation of an FCC Hurricane Recovery Task Force. This internal task force will continue the Commission’s work in support of the restoration of communications services in areas affected by this season’s hurricanes, with an emphasis on addressing the challenges facing Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

“As we shift from short-term incident management to a longer-term recovery phase, it makes sense to adjust the structure of the FCC’s response. In the weeks and months to come, the Commission will be confronting a wide range of storm-related issues that fall within the jurisdiction of numerous bureaus and offices,” said Chairman Pai. “It is critical that we adopt a coordinated and comprehensive approach to support the rebuilding of communications infrastructure and restoration of communications services. The Hurricane Recovery Task Force will allow us to do just that.” The task force will be chaired by Michael Carowitz, Special Counsel to Chairman Pai, and comprised of representatives from bureaus and offices throughout the agency.

We’re excited to announce that the News Integrity Initiative at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism has chosen Free Press’ News Voices project as one of its first 10 grantees. Free Press is honored to be among a remarkable group of organizations doing vital work to foster trust between newsrooms and the public and nurture constructive, inclusive public conversations. NII’s $250,000 grant will help support News Voices’ work in North Carolina, where we launched earlier in 2017, and in New Jersey, where we’ve been working since 2015. News Voices builds bridges between journalists and everyday people to improve local news, increase access to credible information, and foster public support for quality journalism. We do that through intensive on-the-ground outreach and in-person conversations, large and small. This grant will help us work with our local and state partners to leverage our local relationships and explore how communities lose trust in the media — and how to rebuild it.

The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Voice of the First Amendment Task Force is calling on the Senate Intelligence Committee to ignore a tweet from President Donald Trump seeking an investigation into what he called “Fake News Networks.” The Senate Intelligence Committee is one of several entities investigating allegations of collusion between Russia and some members of the Trump campaign and inner circle. While at first the tweet appears to be just another escalation of the president’s ongoing rhetorical war against news stories with which he disagrees or that he just doesn’t like, the task force believes it must be taken seriously.

"This White House has said that Mr. Trump’s tweets constitute official communications from the president of the United States. So what we have here is the highest elected official in the land seeking a congressional investigation into the content of news reports,” said Dan Shelley, RTDNA Executive Director. “Such an investigation would be a clear violation of the First Amendment.”

Team Internet — a grassroots network of Network Neutrality activists — pulled out all the stops to try to stop Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai from being reconfirmed. The weekend of Sept 29, Team Internet texters recruited over 500 people to call their lawmakers and urge them to #FirePai. Over the course of the campaign, nearly 4,000 people called their members of Congress and close to 60,000 people signed a petition.

Public Knowledge, Consumer Federation of America, and New Networks Institute filed an amicus brief in the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit requesting the Court to overturn and remand the Federal Communications Commission’s recent Business Data Services deregulation Order. Public Knowledge argues that the agency’s competition analysis, which found that duopoly competition -- real or potential -- is “sufficient” to discipline market power and high prices in the BDS market, is ludicrous. The Commission’s analysis is inconsistent with competition law and unsupported by the record, and the Order will lead to higher prices in the BDS market, which consumers will ultimately pay.