Having accurate broadband deployment data is important to the Federal Communications Commission’s work for a lot of reasons. First, our decision-making should be based on rigorous analysis. Second, good broadband deployment data helps the Commission target our policies and resources as effectively as possible. And third, broadband deployment data empowers consumers. Accurate information on Internet access options can be useful if you’re moving to a new area and trying to decide where you want to live, or if you’re dissatisfied with your current service and want to change providers. It’s with this context that I’m pleased that US Telecom, along with broadband industry partners ITTA and WISPA, are taking up the cause. The mapping pilot project they are announcing today is intended to help flesh out the record in our Form 477 reform proceeding. By testing new ideas on the ground, it is my hope that this pilot and similar initiatives will give the Commission and other stakeholders useful information to consider as we move ahead. 

USTelecom, an industry group representing carriers like AT&T, CenturyLink, and others serving rural America, says it may have the fix for broadband mapping that will provide far more granularity in the data than ever before. The lobbying group will work with other telecom industry groups, including WISPA, which represents fixed wireless providers, and ITTA, which represents smaller rural carriers, to pilot a new mapping program in two states: Virginia and Missouri. They say the program will lead to the creation of a better, more accurate nationwide broadband deployment map. While USTelecom's plan sounds good on paper, there are skeptics who worry that solely depending on a plan crafted by the broadband industry will always be inherently flawed. After all, the model relies on those carriers to report where they're offering service, which has proven to be inaccurate in the past.

Kevin Taglang, executive editor at the Benton Foundation, said he thinks the level of granularity that USTelecom hopes to achieve would go a long way in making the maps more accurate. But he's surprised that the proposal has come from the telecom industry, which he says has traditionally resisted reporting such specific data. Still, if the pilot is successful and produces more accurate maps, Taglang said he's open to it. "I'm skeptical," he said. "But if it's a great idea, it's a great idea. It doesn't matter where it comes from, but until I see the details I can't really comment."

Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim and Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly offered different perspectives on how the government should treat antitrust cases - especially in the media industry. Delrahim suggested that courts should "bifurcate trials," with one segment evaluating the transaction and another phase offering a remedy. He warned that, "Defendants, not the public, should bear the burden of proof of whether [a merger or acquisition] does likely harm to competition" and he urged that "courts should be careful in the future." Delrahim also acknowledged that, "Our market definitions change." "There is a lot of convergence of different forms in [the media] industry," he said. "We look at the facts of the market as well as the changes in technology."

"His standards stink," said FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly, describing Delrahim's approach. "That's the issue. We have to modernize how we examine the marketplace, across segments. Everyone is in the same market. The big tech companies are trying to steal everyone's lunch."  "All types of providers are figuring out what they want to be in this business." That was a theme of the Commissioner's speech, in which he emphasized the need for better local awareness and oversight of new unregulated entrants competing entrenched cable operators. "Your companies have invested heavily to meet the immediate and long-term commercial and consumer demand for broadband speeds and capacity, despite a vastly changing marketplace and revenue streams," he said. Commissioner O'Rielly lamented that, "You have been under constant attack by those pointy-headed liberal advocacy groups hell-bent on driving profit margins to zero."

Facebook knew about Cambridge Analytica’s “improper data-gathering practices” months before the Guardian first reported on them in Dec 2015, according to a court filing by the attorney general for Washington DC. The new information “could suggest that Facebook has consistently mislead [sic]” British lawmakers “about what it knew and when about Cambridge Analytica”, tweeted Damian Collins, the chair of the House of Commons digital culture media and sport select committee (DCMS) in response to the filing. In a statement, a company spokesperson said: “Facebook absolutely did not mislead anyone about this timeline.”

Day in, day out, the @WhiteHouse Twitter account shills for President Donald Trump, coordinating messages that cast his presidency in a positive light. But @WhiteHouse, which has over 18 million followers, doesn’t just share policy accomplishments and favorable statistics: it aims snarky put-downs at Trump’s critics and the news media, and retweets some of the president’s most concerning anti-press attacks. While journalists obsess over the @realDonaldTrump account’s every missive, @WhiteHouse goes mostly under the radar.

President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate Michael J. K. Kratsios of South Carolina, to be an Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Upon appointment, designate him to be the United States Chief Technology Officer.