Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Headlines Daily Digest
Antitrust and Privacy on Today's Agenda
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Rural Broadband and Infrastructure Legislation
Broadband/Internet/Telecom
Wireless
Platforms
Ownership
Privacy
Security
Broadband
Telecom and consumer groups are preparing to make a major push for including billions of dollars for rural broadband funding in any infrastructure deal, even as lawmakers and advocates struggle with tough questions ahead. Democratic leaders signaled that broadband investment could be a major part of the $2 trillion infrastructure deal they are pursuing with President Donald Trump. USTelecom, which represents the country’s largest internet service providers, and the Telecommunications Industry Association responded with statements supporting funds for rural broadband in the package.
“Right now, it’s just talk,” said Gigi Sohn, a former adviser at the Federal Communications Commission. “When it’s actually some numbers written down on paper and a deal, then come talk to me.” The main roadblock ahead could come from GOP lawmakers, who oppose any tax increases to fund the infrastructure package.
The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau designated four petitioners -- Bloosurf, Hankins Information Technology, Northern Arapaho Tribal Industries (Wind River Internet), and Tombigbee Communications, Inc -- as eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) in eligible high-cost areas within the specified states. Designation is conditioned upon and limited to petitioners’ authorization to receive Connect America support awarded through the Connect America Fund Phase II auction (Auction 903) and effective only upon such authorization. One of these petitioners, Wind River, also requests designation as an ETC outside of areas eligible for Auction 903 funding authorization. For such areas, the FCC limited the designation of Wind River as an ETC only to eligibility for Lifeline support. In making these designations, the Bureau finds that each of these petitioners meets the eligibility requirements to receive universal service support, as set forth in section 214(e)(6) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act), and related Commission rules. The Bureau also waives, on its own motion, the requirement that these petitioners submit proof of their ETC designation on or before February 25, 2019.
Sens Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) expressed frustration with a federal probe into Facebook’s privacy practices, urging the government to move more swiftly and consider imposing tough punishments that target the company’s top executives. “This investigation has been long delayed in conclusion — raising the specter of a remedy that is too little too late,” the lawmakers wrote. “The public is rightly asking whether Facebook is too big to be held accountable. The FTC must set a resounding precedent that is heard by Facebook and any other tech company that disregards the law in a rapacious quest for growth.”
Specifically, Sens Blumenthal and Hawley contend that a fine ranging into billions of dollars would be a “bargain” for a company as large as Facebook, which recorded $15 billion in revenue last quarter. The tech expects a fine as high as $5 billion. "Even a fine in the billions is simply a write-down for the company, and large penalties have done little to deter large tech firms," the lawmakers said. Sens Blumenthal and Hawley instead urged the FTC to limit Facebook’s data collection, including requirements that restrict the kind of information it collects for advertising. They further called for accountability targeting individual executives if the commission determines “any Facebook executive knowingly broke the law” or its pledge to improve its privacy practices, a commitment it made to end another FTC probe in 2011.
Technology-driven changes—like those we are presently experiencing—produce demands for security and stability that pose a threat to liberal democracy and capitalism. Across the world, autocrats are on the rise because they claim they can deliver answers; symbols such as Brexit or the Wall pose as solutions; and old economic “isms” are reborn as “new” solutions. This is not a unique experience; our struggles in the information age echo similar struggles in the industrial age. When change attacks at gigabit speed, the quest for solutions also accelerates. In a time of rapid technological change, innovative capitalists step up to make the rules regarding how their activities impact the rest of us. Previously, such self-interested rule-making has been confronted eventually by a collective public interest, democratically expressed, to create new rules that protect the common good. For democracy to produce such a resolution, it requires two external accelerants. The first is the belief that collective action can repair economic disparities and restore hope for a better future. The second criteria necessary for democracy to work is for us to overcome our inherent tribal instincts and band together.
Striking back at The New York Times Company, the Federal Communications Commission is urging a judge to rule that the agency need not disclose information about net neutrality commenters because doing so would compromise their privacy. “If the FCC is compelled to disclose an individual’s IP address, operating system and version, browser platform and version, and language settings, and that information is linked to the individual’s publicly-available name and postal address, that disclosure would result in clearly unwarranted invasions of personal privacy,” the FCC argues in papers filed with US District Court Judge Lorna Schofield in the Southern District of New York. “Anyone who can link an individual commenter’s name and postal address with his or her IP address and User-Agent header can commercially exploit the user’s personal information for financial gain, commit identity theft, or otherwise harm the user,” the agency writes. FCC associate chief information officer Erik Scheiberg adds in court papers that even old data about IP addresses can be used for tracking. “Even 'outdated' IP address information can be useful to digital advertisers,” Scheiberg writes in a declaration submitted to the judge. He adds that ad companies could match older IP addresses with commenters' names and addresses in order to “identify and learn more about a person’s past online activity.”
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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