A conversation with FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly
On the Road Again
One way we can expand connectivity is promoting more efficient and productive use of underused spectrum. This month, we tackle mid-band spectrum in the 2.5 GHz range. Significant portions of the Educational Broadband Service (EBS) spectrum in this band currently lie fallow across approximately one-half of the United States, mostly in rural areas. And we haven’t granted new access to the entire 114 MHz of spectrum in this band for over 20 years. In other words, a scarce public resource that could be used to connect millions of Americans for a long time hasn’t been put to the best use, if it’s even been used at all. At a time when we are seeking to lead the world in 5G and connect every American with digital opportunity, that’s not acceptable. We can’t afford to leave this large band of spectrum behind. That’s why we will vote at our May 10 meeting on a proposal to allow more efficient and effective use of this band. Specifically, I’m proposing provide greater flexibility to current EBS licensees to freely use and transfer their spectrum. We would consider new opportunities for educational entities and Tribal Nations to gain access to this spectrum on a first-come, first-served basis in places where they have a local presence and can best serve their communities. And we would open up the remaining 2.5 GHz spectrum for auction to anyone, including commercial entities, on a flexible-use basis.
Other items on the agenda:
- I’ll ask Commissioners to consider streamlining or eliminating rules that require broadcasters to physically display or maintain their licenses and related information in specific locations
- The FCC will consider ways to mitigate any interference caused by the expanded use of FM translators
Net Neutrality and Our Freedom to Think and Speak
[Commentary] A few years ago, Yale Law School Professor Jack Balkin explained that “a system of free speech depends not only on the mere absence of state censorship, but also on an infrastructure of free expression.” He wisely observed that policies that facilitate open innovation “better serve the interests of speech in the long run.” To innovate, to speak, to learn, to trust – these are outcomes squarely within the power of the Federal Communications Commission to advance. So one would naturally have expected that the FCC would have carefully examined the implications for diversity of speech, especially political speech, when recently abolishing all of the conduct rules that maintain an Open Internet. Rules as basic as the admonition that broadband providers cannot block a website or app because of the political views publishers or people express there. Or slow those websites or apps down. Or make them pay extra to reach subscribers while websites or apps with different views rush to their destinations. But no.
[Jonathan Sallet is a Benton Senior Fellow]
2018 Charles Benton Digital Equity Award
If there’s anything that coming to a gathering like Net Inclusion really brings home, it is that addressing inequity is the responsibility of everyone in the community. None of us can solve a problem like digital inclusion working on our own. It takes collaboration; a web of dedicated advocates from all over the country working on all aspects of the issue. So, I am thrilled that the third annual Charles Benton Digital Equity Champion Award honors one of our field’s great collaborators, Deb Socia. Deb is the Founding Executive Director of Next Century Cities. NCC strives to support community leaders across the country as they seek to ensure that everyone has access to fast, affordable, and reliable Internet. More than 180 cities strong, Next Century Cities is committed to celebrating city successes, and sharing information and best practices to demonstrate the value, and elevate the importance, of next-generation broadband as essential infrastructure.
FCC Delays are Keeping Broadband from Rural School Kids
Under the Trump administration, rural schools requesting funding for broadband expansion have faced record delays and denials, according to the non-profit EducationSuperHighway, which works to get schools connected to the internet. By their count, more than 60 eligible fiber projects have been unfairly denied since 2017, a rate that EducationSuperHighway CEO Evan Marwell says has spiked dramatically from years prior. Meanwhile, more than 30 schools have been waiting about a year for approval. On average, they currently wait an average of 240 days for an answer. That's despite state governments having put up $200 million in funds to supplement broadband expansion projects. "The table is set, and what we've run into is a bunch of red tape," says Marwell.
Technology Counts 2018
Results of a survey focused on screen-time, personalized learning, social media, cyber-bullying, media literacy, sexting, and the Computer Science for All movement.Highlights of the survey findings include:
- Most leaders say that students spend the right amount of screen time in school. However, 95 percent are concerned that students get too much screen time at home.
- The majority of leaders (57 percent) report that digital technologies are an important supplemental resource used to personalize the learning experience based on each student’s strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Relatively few (16 percent) say such technologies are central to their mission or that they do not use them at all (3 percent).
- More than half of school leaders (55 percent) are extremely concerned about student social media use outside of school.
- Just under half of leaders (45 percent) are extremely concerned about cyber-bullying. • Forty-three percent of leaders are very concerned about students’ inability to gauge the reliability of online news.
- Compared to their elementary and high school peers, middle school leaders are most concerned about student sexting.
- Just 7 percent of leaders say that teaching computer science or data science is central to the mission of their operation. Overall, findings suggest that school-based leaders face multiple challenges as they educate children in an increasingly technology-focused world.
Senatorial attack on the First Amendment
[Commentary] On April 11, 11 Democratic senators and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanderssent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai requesting that the proposed merger between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media be denied. Their request didn’t stop there; the senators requested not only that Sinclair’s future acquisitions be denied but that its existing broadcast licenses be reviewed and a decision be made on whether they should be revoked. The senators wrote this letter seemingly without a sense of the tremendous ironies laced throughout. First, they express concern over a threat to the First Amendment. Second, they level the accusation that Sinclair’s broadcast decisions are driven by corporate and political agendas. And third, of particular irony is that one of the signers of the April 11 letter, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), in October sent a letter to the FCC decrying President Trump’s challenge over NBC’s broadcast licenses. His previous letter said “it is inappropriate for the president to propose challenging broadcasters’ licenses because he disagrees with their coverage.” What received comparatively minimal media coverage was the senators’ challenge of Sinclair’s licenses in the first place. Why is that? Why was there no outrage, given what an assault that would be on the First Amendment? I’ll continue searching for the answer.
[David D. Smith is executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group]
Sinclair TV boss donated to Montana congressman who attacked reporter
One of the brothers who control Sinclair Broadcasting has donated more than $10,000 to Rep Greg Gianforte (R-MT), the congressman who assaulted a journalist and then lied to police about it. Robert E Smith, whose company is the biggest owner of television stations in the US, gave a maximum $5,400 campaign contribution to Rep Greg Gianforte. He did the same in 2017. Gianforte was fined and sentenced to community service and anger management classes in June 2017, after pleading guilty to assaulting the Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs on the eve of his special election victory the previous month. Smith stated when donating to Gianforte that he was self-employed and worked in real estate, an apparent reference to a commercial property firm he founded. His connection to Sinclair was not noted. When he donated $5,400 to Gianforte in 2017, Smith said he was retired. He did the same when giving $10,000 to the Montana Republican party before the assault. Smith has also donated $5,000 to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, variously stating that he was a self-employed musician and a director.
Time Warner CEO calls the government’s case against AT&T ‘ridiculous’
Time Warner chief executive Jeff Bewkes denied that AT&T will raise the price of TV channels such as CNN and TBS as a result of the two companies' $85 billion merger, calling the Justice Department's landmark case to block the deal "ridiculous." "I think it's ridiculous," he said. "It's not how this works." Testifying in federal court, Bewkes alleged that the tech industry — propelled by Amazon, Facebook, Google and Netflix — have dealt a "double-whammy" to his business, and that Silicon Valley poses a greater threat to Time Warner's survival than AT&T and Time Warner pose to other TV providers, such as Comcast or Cox Communications. The source of the tech industry's power, said Bewkes, can be traced to online alternatives to the cable bundle that wield user data and convenience as potent weapons in the war for consumer attention. Services such as Netflix have peeled consumers away from cable TV, reducing the revenue Time Warner receives from cable subscribers, said Bewkes. Yet at the same time, companies such as Google have put pressure on Time Warner's other major source of revenue — advertising — as those tech platforms have turned their troves of customer information into multi-billion-dollar data businesses that marketers find more effective than traditional TV ads.
The National Hispanic Media Coalition and Free Press Call for Better FCC Disaster Recovery and Preparedness in Puerto Rico
The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and Free Press filled joint comments with the Federal Communications Commission calling on the agency to increase efforts to help Puerto Rico fully recover from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which devastated the island’s communication infrastructure. NHMC and Free Press lifted up the voices of Puerto Ricans living on the island and in the states, who conveyed in their own words how the loss of communications services has impacted their lives. NHMC and Free Press also called on the FCC to take action by directly engaging Puerto Ricans across the island in the island’s predominant language, Spanish, to learn more about what happened and how to better prepare the telecommunications network to withstand natural disasters in the future. The organizations also called on the FCC to abandon efforts to destroy the Lifeline program, which would cause more harm to Puerto Ricans struggling to recover. Approximately 60 percent of eligible program recipients on the island currently receive Lifeline, which subsidizes access to essential communications services. NHMC and Free Press call on the FCC to:
- Host roundtables, field hearings and town hall events in Puerto Rico in collaboration with NGOs, government officials, humanitarian organizations and local media. These events should focus on building the essential relationships across sectors to ensure the island fully recovers from the hurricane and to build resilience for future crises;
- Create a collection story tool in English and Spanish to hear directly from Puerto Ricans and conduct extensive outreach to ensure this tool is utilized;
- Significantly increase transparency around the Hurricane Recovery Task Force;
- Terminate its Lifeline proceedings that will destroy the program;
- Publish a detailed report on the impact of Hurricanes Maria and Irma on Puerto Rico and lessons learned; and
- Reopen and adequately staff a field office in Puerto Rico.
Tech Firms Sign ‘Digital Geneva Accord’ Not to Aid Governments in Cyberwar
More than 30 high-tech companies, led by Microsoft and Facebook, announced a set of principles that included a declaration that they would not help any government — including that of the United States — mount cyberattacks against “innocent civilians and enterprises from anywhere, reflecting Silicon Valley’s effort to separate itself from government cyberwarfare. The principles, which have been circulating among senior executives in the tech industry for weeks, also commit the companies to come to the aid of any nation on the receiving end of such attacks, whether the motive for the attack is “criminal or geopolitical.” Although the list of firms agreeing to the accord is lengthy, several companies have declined to sign on at least for now, including Google, Apple and Amazon. Perhaps as important, none of the signers come from the countries viewed as most responsible for what Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, called in an interview “the devastating attacks of the past year.” Those came chiefly from Russia, North Korea, Iran and, to a lesser degree, China.
Securing the Modern Economy: Transforming Cybersecurity Through Sustainability
Constant cyber hacks and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have unfortunately become the new normal in today’s internet-connected society. The unrelenting onslaught has significantly eroded consumer trust in the broad ecosystem of information and communications technologies (ICTs). The growing distrust risks a calamity of public confidence that could undermine both our economy and democracy, creating a ticking time bomb. New white paper explains “sustainability cybersecurity,” an approach in which stakeholders’ interactions with the ICT ecosystem are understood and deliberate, and where each participant understands its responsibility as a steward to respect and protect the ecosystem to preserve its future use.
Facebook moves 1.5 billion users out of reach of new European privacy law
Facebook has moved more than 1.5 billion users out of reach of European privacy law, despite a promise from Mark Zuckerberg to apply the “spirit” of the legislation globally. In a tweak to its terms and conditions, Facebook is shifting the responsibility for all users outside the US, Canada and the European Union from its international HQ in Ireland to its main offices in California. It means that those users will now be on a site governed by US law rather than Irish law. The move is due to come into effect shortly before General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in Europe on 25 May. Facebook is liable under GDPR for fines of up to 4% of its global turnover – around $1.6 billion – if it breaks the new data protection rules.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org) and Robbie McBeath (rmcbeath AT benton DOT org) -- we welcome your comments.
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