USAToday

Candidate Donald Trump had publicly blasted AT&T’s proposed $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner, saying the blockbuster merger concentrated too much power in the hands of too few. The question now is will President Trump stick to that belief?

Time Warner stock was down 1.32% in early afternoon trading. AT&T shares on the other hand were up 0.74%. AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said Nov 9 that AT&T was “optimistic” that regulators would approve the deal. “From a company perspective, we really look forward to working with President-Elect Trump and his transition team. His policies, his discussions about infrastructure investment, economic development, and American innovation all fit right in with AT&Ts goals.”

Facebook has been sued for discrimination in housing and employment based on the ability of advertisers to target ads at specific “ethnic affinities.” The suit, filed Nov 3 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses the Menlo Park (CA)-based company with violating federal anti-discrimination laws for housing and employment. The practice came to light late in Oct when the non-profit news organization Pro Publica published an analysis showing that the social network lets advertisers target who sees their ads by “ethnic affinity.” The wording on Facebook's ad-buy page under “Narrow audience” says “EXCLUDE people who match at least ONE of the following," and includes African American, Asian Americans and four categories of Hispanics. Ad purchasers can also add demographic interest or behaviors they want to exclude. The suit notes that there is no option in the Facebook platform to exclude the demographic of "White or Caucasian Americans from the target audience."

Facebook policies prohibit the use of its ad targeting to discrimination. The company explained to ProPublica that the targeting was meant to allow advertisers to test various marketing strategies and focuses on affinities, not genetic makeup. "The lawsuit is utterly without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously. Multicultural marketing is a common practice in the ad industry and helps brands reach audiences with more relevant advertising. Our policies prohibit using our targeting options to discriminate, and they require compliance with the law,” Facebook spokeswoman Genevieve Grdina said.

African-American travelers wait as much as 30% longer for UberX rides, and people with African-American sounding names had their UberX trips canceled at twice the rate of those with white-sounding names, a study released Oct 31 found. Though the actual difference in wait times was small, on average 90 seconds, it is another reminder the online economy still mirrors a flawed world.

“Technology was supposed to be a tool that mitigated discrimination because it’s based on algorithms rather than subjective expectations. But we see that doesn’t always happen,” said Darrick Hamilton, a professor of economics and urban policy at The New School in New York City. Researchers at the University of Washington, Stanford University and MIT used black and white university students to study the behavior of drivers for UberX and Lyft. All told, they took nearly 1,500 rides on controlled routes. The tests were conducted in Seattle and Boston. In Seattle, African-American riders using UberX waited approximately 30% longer to be picked up than white riders. Black riders waited on average 5:15 minutes while white riders waited 4 minutes. The researchers suggested drivers may have taken longer to identify black riders at pickup, adding to the wait time. Uber drivers do not see riders' photos, only their names.

A teenager has been arrested in connection with a cyberattack on the county's emergency call-in system. Meetkumar Hiteshbhai Desai, 18, was taken into custody after the Surprise (AZ) Police Department, northwest of Phoenix, notified the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office of more than 100 hang-up 911 calls within a few minutes late Oct 25.

Desai was booked into a Maricopa County jail on suspicion of three counts of computer tampering. Interference with critical infrastructure could have disrupted the 911 system in the Phoenix area and potentially other states. Investigators traced the calls and discovered they originated from a link posted to Twitter, according to the statement. The link was to a site named "Meet Desai" and its domain was hosted out of San Francisco. When the link was clicked, it continually called 911 and would not let the caller hang up.

[Commentary] AT&T’s proposed buyout of Time Warner already has raised serious concerns from public interest groups and bipartisan lawmakers alike. “Too much concentration of power in the hands of too few,” says Donald Trump. “Less concentration, I think, is generally helpful, especially in the media,” says Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Sen Tim Kaine (D-VA). They have good reason to be worried.

This huge merger would put unprecedented media power — over the Internet, mobile phones, satellite TV, cable channels like CNN and HBO, movie studios and more — under one roof. If this mega merger goes through, AT&T will be saddled with more than $350 billion in total liabilities. What does that mean for subscribers? Higher monthly bills. That’s not idle speculation: It’s exactly what AT&T did after merging with DirecTV. Higher broadband prices will put essential Internet access further out of reach for too many families. Policymakers in Washington are starting to realize what the rest of us already knew: These media mega mergers don’t serve anyone besides Wall Street bankers and overpaid media execs awaiting their golden parachutes. There’s only one thing for the next administration to do: Block this deal.

[Craig Aaron is the president, and Dana Floberg is a policy fellow, at Free Press.]

The Federal Communications Commission is expected Oct 27 to vote on new rules on how Internet service providers (ISPs) can use customer data. Consumer privacy over ISPs' broadband networks came under the purview of the FCC after the agency's adoption in 2015 of network neutrality or Open Internet rules. More than nine out of 10 adults (91%) agree or strongly agree consumers have lost control of their personal data and its use, according to a Pew Research Center report out in Sept. But its updating of Internet consumer privacy rules has vast repercussions when it comes to the accumulation of consumer data profiles and their possible use in advertising and marketing. Companies such as AT&T, Comcast, Google and Verizon have argued the FCC's rules should dovetail with those of the Federal Trade Commission, which handles consumer privacy on Web sites, in apps and any other Net destination.

The proposed merger of wireless giant AT&T and media powerhouse Time Warner isn’t about raising prices for consumers, but lowering them, AT&T’s CEO said. Noting a new DirecTV package of 100 channels priced at $35 monthly aimed at cord cutters will bow in Nov, “this is a way to drive down prices,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said.

AT&T looks to take on cable as a major competitor, both with its DirecTV subsidiary, and having Time Warner (CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. studio) under the corporate umbrella. “This deal was about how can we change the game in this ecosystem,” Stephenson said. “If there was ever an environment begging for a change, this is it.” He cited 20 million people who have cut the cord from cable TV. ”How do you begin to access that segment of the market?” he asked. Looking toward the future, Stephenson waxed on about the possibilities of the next stage of mobile delivery from super-fast 5G networks, which he said would begin deployment from AT&T in 2018. In a joint talk with Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, the two said TW products will not be offered as exclusives to AT&T customers.

Having a working phone during a hurricane may be as vital as having electricity — and the big three cellular carriers said their networks delivered by keeping nearly all its customers along Florida's Treasure Coast connected as Hurricane Matthew churned north on Oct 6.

AT&T Wireless, Sprint and Verizon executives said most of their customers remained connected before, during and after Hurricane Matthew, and their networks performed well. Sprint reported having issues at one St. Lucie County (FL) cell site, which was blamed on a power outage, said company spokeswoman Roni Singleton. “Service should be essentially normal for our customers in the area,” Singleton said. Well ahead of the storm, cell companies rolled out emergency action plans to remain operational, which for Sprint included fueling permanent generators and mobilizing portable generators into threatened areas. Verizon had backup batteries at cell sites and switching centers that kept the network running and customers connected when commercial power failed, spokeswoman Karen Schulz said. AT&T and Verizon also waived data overage charges for talk and text services from Oct 7 to 11.

Both US presidential candidates have vowed to take on the world when it comes to cyber warfare. But full-scale cyber retaliation might be hard to spot and even harder to count as a win. "Unlike a traditional war, there is no end where there are clear winners and losers, no physical flag to capture," said Peter Tran, senior director at RSA Security in the company's worldwide advanced cyber defense practice. If the US were to ramp up its counterattacks on countries it thinks are sponsoring hackers that breach American accounts, don't expect a sci-fi digital armageddon. The target's electric grid might still work, and so may the ATMs. Think of it more as a creeping worry that simple things we rely on can't be trusted — the machines that count our votes, the total on our bank balance, our personal digital files. In a hot cyber war, the first line of attack would not be like on Star Trek, with spectacular bursts of sparks flying out of computers. Instead it would be a stealth attack on the enemy’s military command and control infrastructure, to keep it from being able to strike, said Matt Devost, managing director of Accenture Security and a special government advisor to the US Department of Defense. A higher level of escalation involves damaging critical infrastructure.

The Federal Communications Commission's proposed rules to let pay-TV subscribers free themselves from set-top boxes may be in jeopardy. Commissioners are expected to vote Sept 29 at the agency's monthly meeting on the measure, which would require pay-TV providers make free apps available to let subscribers watch programming on other devices without the need of a set-top box. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler made the proposal in January and the commission set it in motion a month later by a 3-2 vote. Chairman Wheeler reworked the proposed rules after initial concerns from pay-TV providers and programmers about copyright protections and consumer privacy. However, content companies such as Disney and Time Warner remain concerned about the FCC's involvement in licensing third-party companies, while pay-TV providers and others say that the proposal goes beyond the agency's purview.