Los Angeles Times

[Commentary] The Trump administration’s determination to roll back regulations protecting the environment, voting rights and financial services consumers has been drawing most of the public’s attention. But a stunningly swift and thorough deregulatory campaign is happening elsewhere in Washington: at the Federal Communications Commission.

Under its new chairman, the Republican former telecommunications industry attorney Ajit Pai, the FCC has cancelled, suspended or stayed a whole checklist of consumer-friendly regulations affecting broadband services, telecommunications, video content and customer privacy rights. Consumer advocates say the consequences may include higher rates for Internet service, less privacy for customers going online and a narrower choice of content. In what may be his most far-reaching act, Pai announced Feb. 27 that the FCC would take a hands-off approach to the AT&T-Time Warner merger, an $85-billion deal between a content distributor and content producer that could remake both industries. That leaves jurisdiction over the merger to the Department of Justice, which is unlikely to block it. President Trump has said he opposes the merger, but he also held a closed-door meeting with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson just before the inauguration, so whether he will intervene to block the deal remains unknown.

Media companies are preparing for some whirlwind courtships in what’s expected to be the biggest merger bonanza in years.

Verizon, the nation’s largest phone company with more than 114 million wireless subscribers, could pair up with Charter Communications, which has more than 17 million customers in such key markets as Los Angeles, New York and Dallas. This romance and others appear to be blooming one week after President Donald Trump took office and designated a new Federal Communications Commission chairman who favors a more hands-off approach to government regulation than his predecessor.

Traditional media companies desperate for growth don’t want to get left behind as rivals bulk up in an effort to survive a more difficult environment. “What is driving this [merger activity] is challenges in these businesses,” said Matthew Harrigan, a senior analyst with Wunderlich Securities. “There are not a lot of elephants on the savanna, and when one moves, you have to move too.” Trump administration appointees are expected to be friendlier to corporate mergers, returning to a traditional Republican openness to approving major deals after eight years of heightened scrutiny — and some major rejections — under Democratic appointees of former President Barack Obama.

Donald Trump’s presidential victory sent a shock wave through the socially liberal but generally politically detached tech industry, catalyzing something of an awakening in Silicon Valley. Some tech workers who had long toed their companies’ apolitical lines saw Trump’s win as a turning point; the moment when they should become more vocal about their views.

In the months since the election, some workers have organized protests. Others have joined fledgling activist groups such as the Tech Workers Coalition, or the recently-formed Tech Solidarity. Many are now looking for ways big and small to allay their own fears of how a Trump administration might affect issues such as privacy, immigration, and civil rights. The recent election has also made some in Silicon Valley reflect on the industry’s responsibility as creators of services used by governments and political candidates.

[Commentary] President Donald Trump named Ajit Pai to take over as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Chairman Pai, a Republican, has served on the five-member commission since 2012, and no one questions his smarts or his grasp of complex telecom issues. Unlike some other Trump appointees, this one knows his stuff.

That said, Chairman Pai has a solid track record of favoring deregulation of phone, cable and broadband companies. It’s a sure bet he’ll adopt a more hands-off approach to overseeing the telecom industry than his Democratic predecessor, Tom Wheeler, who believed government regulators have an important role to play in consumer protection. “Pai is the anti-Wheeler,” said Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge. “Anything Wheeler tried to do, Pai would be the first to say it went too far.” For consumers, Feld said, a key change will be Chairman Pai renouncing Wheeler’s position that phone rules apply to broadband services — a stance that gave the FCC sweeping authority over high-speed Internet providers. It may sound wonky, but it’s a very big deal.

Hollywood had been backing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, which President Trump formally withdrew from on Jan 23. Though the agreement wasn’t all that Hollywood hoped, its lobbying arm, the Motion Picture Association of America, supported the deal because it felt the deal would further open Asian markets to film distribution and combat piracy. The MPAA said the deal would:
1) Strengthen copyright protections: The treaty ensured that copyright owners of digital material had the exclusive right to make their works available online. It extended the length of copyright protection to the life of the creator plus 70 years, which protected film studios.
2) Forbid governments from requiring companies to turn over encryption keys: This measure was seen in Hollywood as a breakthrough to maintain security and curtail digital theft.
3) Eliminate tariffs on DVDs and other film storage products: For movie studios, the trade deal was seen as helpful because it would remove tariffs on digital cinema packs and 35-millimeter film.
4) Remove local partnership requirement: The agreement would prevent governments from requiring that a company or person, as a condition for importing movies or television shows, establish a contractual relationship with a local distributor.

Cable news networks had reason to feel bittersweet about the end of 2016 as Donald Trump’s historic campaign for the White House drove their ratings to record levels. But in the days leading up to his inauguration as the 45th president of the United States, Trump’s continuing love-hate relationship with them is providing a compelling sequel.

CNN, Fox News and MSNBC have seen a surprising surge in their audience levels this month as they report in real time on the unpredictable saga of Trump, who can dictate their programming day with his Twitter account. After Trump takes the oath of office Jan 20, they will be covering a president whose distrust and ridicule of the media is unlike anything they have seen from a commander in chief. While it’s apparent Trump’s combative nature is lifting viewer interest, the uncharted territory of his presidency is likely to test the journalistic spine of the organizations as well.

Verizon customers who have unlimited data plans and use more than 200 gigabytes a month will be required to switch to a capped data plan by Feb 16 or be disconnected from service. A letter notifying affected customers about the change started to go out last week, Verizon spokeswoman Kelly Crummey said. Those customers will also be notified on their bill statements. If they still have not made the switch by Feb 9, Verizon will send them a text message reminder, she said. Crummey said the change was made to “ensure the network works for all of our customers.” “If they’re using that much data, they’re taking up a lot of capacity on the cell tower, so other people who are trying to use the service within proximity of that cell tower may or may not be able to use that service,” she said.

When asked in 2015 on the campaign trail whether he thought the United States should create a database of Muslims in the country, Donald Trump said, “Oh, I would certainly implement that — absolutely." On Dec 13, hundreds of members of the technology industry weighed in on whether they would help build such a database. The answer? Absolutely not. By Dec 14 some 590 software engineers, designers, business executives and data processing personnel from US firms such as Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Mozilla and Palantir Technologies had signed a pledge “choosing to stand in solidarity with Muslim Americans, immigrants, and all people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by the incoming administration’s proposed data collection policies."

As part of the pledge, the individuals promised, among other things, to:

• Refuse to participate in the creation of databases that would allow the government to target individuals based on race, religion or national origin
• Advocate within their organizations to minimize data collection that would facilitate ethnic or religious targeting
• Responsibly destroy high-risk data sets and backups
• Resign from their organization if ordered to build such a database

If airlines allow passengers to make in-flight cellphone calls, the carrier must notify passengers in advance, under a rule proposed by the US Department of Transportation. The rule, proposed during the week of Dec 5, may be a moot question because the Department of Transportation is still considering a complete ban on airborne voice calls within, to or from the United States. Still, the agency said that if such calls are allowed, airlines could prohibit them on all or some individual flights, and should notify passengers of the policy for their flight in advance.

“Consumers deserve to have clear and accurate information about whether any airline permits voice calls before they purchase a ticket and board the aircraft,” said US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx. The Federal Communications Commission currently prohibits cellphone calls on commercial flights but has opened the door for phone calls using the airplane’s Wi-Fi connection. Several airlines, including Delta Air Lines, have said they oppose allowing voice calls on their planes — even those using Wi-Fi. Flight attendants have also spoken out against calls on planes, saying loud phone conversations are sure to create conflict and confusion.

On average, parents are spending what amounts to more than a full workday connected to screen-based media, according to a new survey from Common Sense Media. Just like their kids, parents are spending upward of nine hours a day engaging with media. They asked a sample of about 1,800 parents of tweens (ages 8-12) and teens (13-18) from across the country this summer about how they spent their time using media, whether it was using computers or hand-held digital devices, watching television or reading. They also asked about how parents monitor and what they think about how their kids use media. Some 78% of the parents surveyed said they believe they are “good media and technology role models” for their children.