Daily Digest 11/14/2018 (From Midterms to What?)

Benton Foundation
Table of Contents

Agenda

From Midterms to What?  |  Read below  |  Michael Copps  |  Analysis  |  Benton Foundation

Broadband/Internet

FCC's Top Lawyer Lays Out Net Neutrality Argument  |  Read below  |  Cristiano Lima  |  Politico
AT&T CEO: State net neutrality and privacy laws are a “total disaster”  |  Read below  |  Jon Brodkin  |  Ars Technica
Can Electric Co-ops Bridge the Digital Divide?  |  National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Comcast Hosts Special Event in Portland to Help Close the Digital Divide for Low-Income Veterans  |  Comcast
Internet traffic hijack disrupts Google services  |  Associated Press

Wireless

FCC Establishes Sprint/T-Mobile Comment Deadline for Dec 4  |  Federal Communications Commission
Opinion: Oh Look, Wireless Sector Investment Is Declining Despite Tax Cuts, Repeal Of Net Neutrality  |  Karl Bode
Verizon completes first 5G data transmission on a smartphone  |  Verizon
Sacramento’s 5G story dimmed by legal spat involving Verizon, XG  |  Read below  |  Matt Kapko  |  Fierce
Sens Moran, Udall Say FCC Must Protect C-Band Incumbents  |  Read below  |  John Eggerton  |  Multichannel News
Ten strategies to protect state and local property after FCC's 5G Preemption Order  |  Baller Stokes and Lide
Ten Strategies to Protect State and Local Property After the FCC’s Small Cell Preemption Order  |  CTC Technology and Energy
5G wireless: Separating fact from fiction for cities and states  |  Read below  |  Bret Swanson  |  Analysis  |  American Enterprise Institute
Municipalities’ policies are a ticking bomb under the mobile industry’s effort to deliver good mobile coverage and 5G.  |  Strand Consulting
28, 24 GHz auction primer: What to expect before the bidding starts  |  Fierce
Keeping Up With Spectrum Policy: Mid-band Opportunities  |  Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
As promotions disappear, carriers turn to new phones to goose sales  |  Fierce
2018 Global Mobile Consumer Survey: Americans Look at Their Smartphones 14 Billion Times Daily  |  Deloitte

Privacy/Security

FTC Submits Comments to NTIA on Consumer Privacy  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Federal Trade Commission
European Union Comments in NTIA Privacy Proceeding  |  European Commission
Association of National Advertisers Seeks Uniform National Privacy Standard in comments to NTIA  |  Broadcasting&Cable
Comments to NTIA on Advancing Consumer Privacy and Protecting Innovation  |  Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
Sens Markey, Udall, Blumenthal Call for FTC Investigation into Manipulative Marketing in Children’s Apps  |  Read below  |  Sen Ed Markey (D-MA)  |  Press Release  |  US Senate
Project Fi promises privacy with Google-run VPN  |  Vox
Analysis: The US was notably absent from a global cybersecurity pact. But American companies signed on.  |  Washington Post

Platforms

How Google and Amazon Got Away With Not Being Regulated  |  Read below  |  Tim Wu  |  Op-Ed  |  Wired

Ownership/Competition

DOJ Requires Sinclair and 5 Other Broadcast TV Companies to Terminate and Refrain from Unlawful Sharing of Competitively Sensitive Information  |  Read below  |  Press Release  |  Department of Justice, Washington Post
Media deals become President Trump's political targets — again  |  Read below  |  Sara Fischer, David McCabe  |  Axios
  • DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim says evidence, not tweets, drives decisionmaking  |  Reuters
First Semi-Annual Report of the FCC to Congress on US-Based Foreign Media Outlets  |  Federal Communications Commission

Television

FCC Proposes to Modernize Rules for Direct Broadcast Service  |  Federal Communications Commission

Journalism

CNN sues President Trump, requesting that Jim Acosta's White House press pass be restored  |  Read below  |  Jim Puzzanghera  |  Los Angeles Times

Elections

Russia wants DNC’s election-hacking lawsuit thrown out  |  Read below  |  Ellen Nakashima, Tom Hamburger  |  Washington Post

Violence

Chairman Pai Statement on Guilty Plea by Federal Criminal Defendant Who Called In Bomb Threat to FCC  |  Federal Communications Commission
As recount politics heat up, two Florida election officials are the targets of online harassment  |  Washington Post

Policymakers

President Trump Comments On FCC Chairman Pai  |  Read below  |  Maegan Vazquez  |  CNN
President Trump nominates administration official Neomi Rao as replacement for Kavanaugh's appeals court seat  |  Washington Post

Stories From Abroad

Global Information Society Watch 2018: Community Networks  |  Read below  |  Research  |  Association for Progressive Communications
One of Europe’s biggest carriers is bringing 5G service to 16 UK cities next year  |  Vox
Worrying' lack of diversity in Britain's tech sector  |  Guardian, The
Today's Top Stories

Agenda

From Midterms to What?

Michael Copps  |  Analysis  |  Benton Foundation

The midterms just completed (except for recounts) were historically important, and in this critical time for our democracy, we must try to make some sense of where we are.  The bad news is split government; the good news is split government. Taking the latter first, leaving unchecked the current Administration’s control of both the Executive and Legislative branches could only have encouraged its bull-in-the-china-shop rampage against its arch-enemy—the “administrative state.” Its many successes in dismantling public interest government in less than two years, poisonous as this has been, would only have been prologue to an even more ambitious onslaught over the next two years.  The outcome of the recent elections can, with a lot of skill and a little luck, slow the demolition. Split government is far from ideal government, to be sure, but its function for the upcoming two years is, first, to put the brakes on the Trump devastation and, secondly but equally important, tee up some real issues for citizens to deliberate as we move toward 2020. 

The bottom line is that all the great reforms in our nation’s history have come, not as a gift from Washington, DC, but from a citizenry informed and organized and insistent upon making things right. We have a little better chance to do this now than we did a week ago.

Broadband

FCC's Top Lawyer Lays Out Net Neutrality Argument

Cristiano Lima  |  Politico

Federal Communications Commission General Counsel Tom Johnson is set to rebut net neutrality advocates on Feb. 1 before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals — and he previewed the agency’s arguments during a Free State Foundation event Nov 9. He said the FCC would cite a “stamp of approval from the Supreme Court” via the 2005 Brand X decision, which asserted that broadband can be classified as an information service, as well as “a history of past commission orders reaching the same conclusion.” Although the FCC believes it can override state net neutrality laws like the one in California, it hasn’t yet settled the question of whether it can challenge efforts to make net neutrality a requirement for state government contracts, Johnson said. “The commission has not taken an explicit position,” he said, adding the FCC hasn’t sought to intervene in such procurement-related actions for that reason.

AT&T CEO: State net neutrality and privacy laws are a “total disaster”

Jon Brodkin  |  Ars Technica

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson urged Congress to pass network neutrality and consumer data privacy laws that would prevent states from issuing their own stricter laws. "There are a number of states that are now passing their own legislation around privacy and, by the way, net neutrality," Stephenson said. "What would be a total disaster for the technology and innovation you see happening in Silicon Valley and elsewhere is to pick our head up and have 50 different sets of rules for companies trying to operate in the United States." "There should be no blocking," ISPs "should not be allowed to throttle somebody else's content," and any device should be allowed to connect to the Internet without interference, he said. Stephenson apparently made no mention of banning paid prioritization, which was banned under the now-repealed Federal Communications Commission rules and by the California law that AT&T and other ISPs are fighting in court. Stephenson also apparently did not call for any limitations on zero-rating. 

Wireless

Sacramento’s 5G story dimmed by legal spat involving Verizon, XG

Matt Kapko  |  Fierce

Sacramento (CA) has come to stand as an example of the complexities involved in actually getting 5G services turned on. Sacramento’s journey toward 5G started in 2016 with an agreement between the city and a company called XG Communities.  The agreement called for XG to identify and organize a database of city assets—namely, street light poles, conduit, fiber and utility circuitry—that could be made available to carriers that wanted to pay for the rights to install small cells on city property. However, a year later, Sacramento was approached by Verizon to be one of the operator’s first 5G cities, and so it inked a separate $100 million deal with Verizon that went around its agreement with XG Communities. That deal gave Verizon access to city infrastructure in return for free Wi-Fi in public parks and other amenities. As luck would have it, the same day Verizon launched its fixed 5G service in Sacramento in Oct, a Superior Court judge ruled that several key provisions of the city’s agreement with Verizon violated the city’s contract with XG. The ruling calls into question the legality of some aspects of Verizon’s network in Sacramento, and a judge has since rendered a final ruling that requires the city to make good on its contract with XG. 

Sens Moran, Udall Say FCC Must Protect C-Band Incumbents

John Eggerton  |  Multichannel News

Sens Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Tom Udall (D-NM) have added their voices to those of broadcasters and others asking the Federal Communications Commission to be careful how it allows new users to share the C-band spectrum they use to receive programming networks from suppliers. "As part of its proceeding, the FCC must consider whether sufficient spectrum will remain available to accommodate today's C-band services, whether other transmission capacity could provide an equally reliable, available, affordable and resilient alternative, whether new uses of the band could result in harmful interference to existing services, and how to reiumburse C-band earth station operators for costs incurred," they wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. 

5G wireless: Separating fact from fiction for cities and states

Bret Swanson  |  Analysis  |  American Enterprise Institute

The Federal Communications Commission just gave the wireless infrastructure effort a lift by streamlining the rules for deploying small cells. I found last week’s editorial by the mayor of San Jose (CA) quite odd. Mayor Sam Liccardo argued that the new FCC rules to encourage faster deployment are an industry effort to “usurp control over these coveted public assets and utilize publicly owned streetlight poles for their own profit, not the public benefit.” But the new streamlining rules do no such thing. Public rights of way will still be public. Cities and states will still have the same access as private firms, just as they had before. And who will benefit from the private investment of some $275 billion dollars in new wireless networks? That’s right — the public. Too often, cities are blocking access to these rights of way, unless firms pay up. These government games are the very obstacles to deployment that the FCC rule is meant to fix.

Privacy

FTC Submits Comments to NTIA on Consumer Privacy

Press Release  |  Federal Trade Commission

Staff of the Federal Trade Commission called for a balanced approach that protects both consumer privacy and innovation in a comment submitted to the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) as part of that agency’s consumer privacy proceeding. FTC staff noted the FTC's extensive experience in protecting consumer privacy and fostering innovation. The FTC is uniquely situated to balance consumers’ interests in privacy, innovation, and competition, according to the comment. In particular, the FTC’s dual mission of protecting competition and consumer protection gives the Commission a deep understanding of the benefits and costs to consumers associated with the use of their data.  

In response to some of the specific topics raised by NTIA, the comment reiterates the FTC’s commitment to data security. The comment also summarizes the importance of companies’ making accurate disclosures about privacy. The comment calls for a balanced approach to choice, where the level of control would depend on consumer preferences, context, and risk. It also notes that the Commission should continue to be the primary enforcer of laws related to information flows in the marketplace, whether under the existing or a new privacy and security framework. The comment adds that the Commission will be examining its current authority related to privacy and data security as part of its series of hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century.

Sens Markey, Udall, Blumenthal Call for FTC Investigation into Manipulative Marketing in Children’s Apps

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA)  |  Press Release  |  US Senate

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA), Tom Udall (D-NM), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called on the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into new evidence of manipulative marketing practices in apps directed at children. A new study recently published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics reveals numerous instances of children’s games using advertising techniques that appear to constitute unfair and deceptive practices under Section V of the FTC Act. In their letter, the Sens highlight evidence of children’s games disguising advertisements, as well as making advertisements integral to games themselves; games using characters to coerce children into making in-app purchases; children’s apps being marketed as free when they actually require additional spending in order to play; and children’s apps characterizing themselves as educational, when they are in fact saturated with advertising.  “The FTC has a statutory obligation to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive advertising practices. That responsibility is all the more urgent when the potential victims of such practices are children,” wrote the Sens. “As parents increasingly permit kids to engage in online games and apps for entertainment and fun, it is imperative to ensure that these playtime options are compliant with existing laws.”

Platforms

How Google and Amazon Got Away With Not Being Regulated

Tim Wu  |  Op-Ed  |  Wired

In the 1990s and 2000s, the web and the internet were new and everything was going to be different forever, and the chaos made it easy to think that bigness—the economics of scale—no longer really mattered in the new economy. After a decade of open chaos and easy market entry, something surprising did happen. A few firms—Google, Facebook, and Amazon—did not disappear. Unfortunately, antitrust law failed to notice that the 1990s were over. Instead, for a decade and counting, it gave the major tech players a pass—even when confronting fairly obvious dangers and anticompetitive mergers. 

If there is a sector more ripe for the reinvigoration of antitrust regulation, I do not know it.

[Tim Wu is a professor at Columbia Law School]

Ownership/Competition

DOJ Requires Sinclair and 5 Other Broadcast TV Companies to Terminate and Refrain from Unlawful Sharing of Competitively Sensitive Information

Press Release  |  Department of Justice, Washington Post

The Department of Justice announced that it has reached a settlement with six broadcast television companies — Sinclair, Raycom Media, Tribune Media Company, Meredith Corporation, Griffin Communications, and Dreamcatcher Broadcasting — to resolve a DOJ lawsuit alleging that the companies engaged in unlawful agreements to share non-public competitively sensitive information with their broadcast television competitors. “The unlawful exchange of competitively sensitive information allowed these television broadcast companies to disrupt the normal competitive process of spot advertising in markets across the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Advertisers rely on competition among owners of broadcast television stations to obtain reasonable advertising rates, but this unlawful sharing of information lessened that competition and thereby harmed the local businesses and the consumers they serve.” 

The proposed settlement prohibits the direct or indirect sharing of such competitively sensitive information. The Department has determined that prohibiting this conduct would resolve the antitrust concerns raised as a result of the conduct of these defendants.  The proposed settlement further requires defendants to cooperate in the department’s ongoing investigation, and to adopt rigorous antitrust compliance and reporting measures to prevent similar anticompetitive conduct in the future.  The settlement has a seven year term, and it will continue to apply to stations currently owned by defendants, even if those stations are acquired by another company.

Media deals become President Trump's political targets — again

Sara Fischer, David McCabe  |  Axios

President Donald Trump continues to comment on antitrust matters related to media companies he doesn't like, and experts worry the resulting political fray could hinder the Justice Department's ability to independently evaluate mergers. Media companies looking to merge amid an already difficult economic climate now have to consider this reality as a part of their business decisions. 

Consumer groups are raising red flags about both the AT&T/Time Warner merger that was approved this summer (after the Justice Department tried to block it) and the Comcast/NBCUniversal merger that was approved in 2011 during the Obama administration. Recently, the American Cable Association asked the DOJ to investigate Comcast/NBCU for antitrust violations. President Trump tweeted about the letter Nov 12, saying, "American Cable Association has big problems with Comcast. They say that Comcast routinely violates Antitrust Laws. 'These guys are acting much worse, and have much more potential for damage to consumers, than anything AT&T-Time Warner would do.' Charlie Gasparino"

"There is a strong basis for enforcing these laws regardless of the White House's statements, but those statements in no way help the DOJ do its job effectively," says Gene Kimmelman, president and CEO of Public Knowledge. 

Journalism

CNN sues President Trump, requesting that Jim Acosta's White House press pass be restored

Jim Puzzanghera  |  Los Angeles Times

CNN said that it is suing President Donald Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference. The lawsuit, to be filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between President Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating “fake news” for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. “The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acosta’s 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process,” AT&T Inc.-owned CNN said. “If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials.”

The suit requests “immediate restoration” of Acosta’s “hard pass,” a press credential issued by the Secret Service that allows reporters access to the White House grounds, parts of the West Wing and secured areas during presidential trips. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the suit was “just more grandstanding from CNN” and the White House “will vigorously defend” against it.

Elections

Russia wants DNC’s election-hacking lawsuit thrown out

Ellen Nakashima, Tom Hamburger  |  Washington Post

The Russian government is arguing that a federal court should dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Democratic National Committee alleging that Moscow’s military spies, the Trump campaign, and the WikiLeaks organization conspired to disrupt the 2016 campaign and tilt the election to Donald Trump. In a letter and statement to the State Department and a judge in the Southern District of New York, Russia’s Ministry of Justice argued that the United States’ Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act protects the Russian government from such lawsuits. In particular, the lawsuit’s naming of the GRU military spy agency as a defendant takes the litigation out of bounds on the basis that “any alleged ‘military attack’ is a quintessential sovereign act,” said a Nov. 6 statement by the ministry’s Department for International Law and Cooperation. The Russian government also warned that if the suit is allowed to proceed, it exposes American spy services such as the National Security Agency — an arm of the Defense Department — to “a tidal wave of civil litigation” in foreign courts.

Policymakers

President Trump Comments On FCC Chairman Pai

Maegan Vazquez  |  CNN

President Donald Trump took part in an event celebrating Diwali Nov 13 at the White House alongside several administration officials. During the ceremony, President Trump teased Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who was in the room. "I just didn't like one decision he made but that's all right," President Trump said as he was introducing Pai, potentially referencing Pai's decision on a merger between Sinclair and Tribune Media. "Not even a little bit. He's independent," President Trump joked, as the group of administration officials behind him laughed. In July, President Trump called the Sinclair/Tribune merger decision "so sad and unfair."

Stories From Abroad

Global Information Society Watch 2018: Community Networks

The 2018 edition of Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) focuses on local access models, specifically, community networks as self-organised, self-managed or locally developed solutions for local access, based on the conviction that one of the keys to affordable access is giving local people the skills and tools to solve their own connectivity challenges. Instead of buying an access service from a large corporate entity, community networks allow community members to self-provide and share infrastructure. The 43 country reports included in 2018's GISWatch capture the different experiences and approaches in setting up community networks across the globe. They show that key ideas, such as participatory governance systems, community ownership and skills transfer, as well as the “do-it-yourself” spirit that drives community networks in many different contexts, are characteristics that lend them a shared purpose and approach. The country reports are framed by eight thematic reports that deal with critical issues such as the regulatory framework necessary to support community networks, sustainability, local content, feminist infrastructure and community networks, and the importance of being aware of “community stories” and the power structures embedded in those stories.

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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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