Daily Digest 6/18/2018 (Manafort; Stone; Cambridge Analytica)

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Elections

Trump 2020 working with ex-Cambridge Analytica Staffers

A company run by former officials at Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm brought down by a scandal over how it obtained Facebook users’ private data, has quietly been working for President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election effort. At least four former Cambridge Analytica employees are affiliated with Data Propria, a new company specializing in voter and consumer targeting work similar to Cambridge Analytica’s efforts before its collapse. The company’s former head of product, Matt Oczkowski, leads the new firm, which also includes Cambridge Analytica’s former chief data scientist. Oczkowski denied a link to the Trump campaign, but acknowledged that his new firm has agreed to do 2018 campaign work for the Republican National Committee. Oczkowski led the Cambridge Analytica data team which worked on Trump’s successful 2016 campaign. 

Paul Manafort ordered to jail after witness-tampering charges

A federal judge ordered Paul Manafort to jail over charges he tampered with witnesses while out on bail — a major blow for President Trump’s former campaign chairman as he awaits trial on federal conspiracy and money-laundering charges.  “You have abused the trust placed in you six months ago,” US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson told Manafort. “The government motion will be granted, and the defendant will be detained.” The judge said sending Manafort to a cell was “an extraordinarily difficult decision” but said his conduct — allegedly contacting witnesses in the case in an effort to get them to lie to investigators — left her little choice.

Trump associate Roger Stone reveals new contact with Russian national during 2016 campaign

Roger Stone, a close Trump ally, met with a Russian man, who called himself Henry Greenberg, in May 2016 claiming to have “dirt” that could help Donald Trump be elected. Greenberg, who did not reveal the information he claimed to possess, wanted Trump to pay $2 million for the political dirt, Stone said. “You don’t understand Donald Trump,” Stone recalled saying before rejecting the offer at a restaurant in the Russian-expat magnet of Sunny Isles (FL). “He doesn’t pay for anything.”  Later, Stone got a text message from Michael Caputo, a Trump campaign communications official who’d arranged the meeting after Greenberg had approached Caputo’s Russian-immigrant business partner. “How crazy is the Russian?” Caputo wrote according to a text message reviewed by The Post. Noting that Greenberg wanted “big” money, Stone replied: “waste of time.” Two years later, the brief sit-down in Florida has resurfaced as part of special counsel Robert Mueller III’s sprawling investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, according to Caputo. Caputo said he was asked about the meeting by prosecutors during a sometimes-heated questioning session. Stone and Caputo, who did not previously disclose the meeting to congressional investigators, now say they believe they were the targets of a setup by US law enforcement officials hostile to Trump.

President Trump says he’s ‘totally exonerated’ by Justice report, and that FBI was ‘plotting against my election’

President Donald Trump said that he had been “totally exonerated” by a new Justice Department report that is highly critical of several key FBI figures in the Hillary Clinton email probe, including former FBI Director James Comey. The report by the department’s inspector general offered no findings regarding the ongoing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller III into possible coordination between Russia and Trump’s campaign in the 2016 election. But the president seemed to suggest that he had been cleared because of the criticism in the report directed at top FBI officials — whom he referred to as “scum” — who had expressed animus toward him or otherwise used poor judgment during the investigation of Clinton. Several of those officials have also played key roles in the Russia investigation. “Take a look at the investigation. Take a look at how it started,” President Trump said. “The top people were horrible . . . . They were plotting against my election.” He argued that the Mueller investigation “has been totally discredited,” and singled out Comey, whom he fired, for additional scorn. “I think Comey was the ring leader of this whole den of thieves,” the president said. “It was a den of thieves.”

FBI Director James Comey had an outsize effect on media coverage right before the 2016 election

The closeness of the 2016 Presidential election — 78,000 votes in three states gave Donald Trump the victory — means that small things could have swung the result. So, too, could big things, like former FBI Director James Comey’s late-campaign revelation that the bureau had found new emails that might be relevant to the server investigation. They weren’t, but the announcement resuscitated the subject right as voters were about to head to the polls. However, the inspector general’s report reinforces an unimportant point about this response to the 2016 election. “But her emails” is largely a carry-over from the drumbeat of stories beginning in spring 2015 first about the existence of her server and, then, about the slow release of the emails that Hillary Clinton had turned over to the State Department. Each new batch of messages prompted a new set of stories, dipping into subtle, often unimportant details. What’s inescapable, though, is the effect of that last-minute announcement from Comey about the discovery of new emails. The Internet Archive’s database of closed captioning from TV news broadcasts shows how dominant Comey was in the last week or so of the campaign. The WikiLeaks releases of emails stolen from Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta got a lot of mentions — a tangent to the “Clinton emails” discussion that was often treated erroneously as a subset of it — but nothing matched Comey on sheer volume over the last few days of the campaign. Not the “Access Hollywood” tape. Not Russia, in the context of Trump. Comey. “

Government and Communications

How the conventions of political journalism help spread Trump’s lies

The report from the Department of Justice’s inspector general on the handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation finds that the FBI’s decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton was untainted by bias or politics. This lays waste to one of the most important narratives pushed by President Dionald Trump and his allies in the quest to undermine special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation by claiming law enforcement is riddled with anti-Trump corruption. But in many accounts about the report, you find versions of this additional claim: The IG report nonetheless provides fodder and ammunition to President Trump and his allies to discredit Mueller’s probe. Many news accounts inadvertently grant these arguments credibility, not just by quoting them, but also by claiming as fact that the conduct in question actually does lend support to those arguments. It showcases a convention often relied upon in political journalism — the use of the “lends fodder” formulation to float false claims alongside true ones — that has to go. 

Ownership

AT&T-Time Warner and a Sea Change for the Internet

This has been, perhaps, one of the most important weeks in the history of the Internet. On June 11, the repeal of net neutrality consumer protections went into effect, laying the regulatory groundwork for large Internet service providers to (transparently) favor some (their own) content. On June 12, a court approved a huge combination of content with a major internet service provider. We can do the math. With the Federal Communications Commission allowing ISPs to be the internet’s gatekeepers and the courts OKing the next way of media ownership consolidation, consumer protections are about to be drowned away.

Why net neutrality supporters are cringing at the AT&T-Time Warner merger

Historians may look back on this week as a turning point in the evolution of the internet. First came the end of net neutrality rules which ensured that broadband and wireless providers couldn't act as gatekeepers picking and choosing who succeeds on the internet and who doesn't. Then a federal judge decided to allow AT&T, one of the largest broadband and wireless providers in the country, and Time Warner, a major media company, to merge without any conditions. The ruling immediately set off a cascade of other deals. While consumer advocates have long feared this scenario, they're downright apoplectic that it's happening without any restrictions to protect people and innovators. "Merging AT&T, one of the largest cable, satellite and mobile broadband companies, with Time Warner will lead to higher prices, fewer choices and perhaps more importantly, fewer voices," Gigi Sohn, an adviser to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said. "Coupled with the demise of the 2015 net neutrality rules, AT&T will be free to favor Time Warner content over its cable and its fixed and mobile broadband networks."

via C|Net

The Court's Decision to Let AT&T And Time Warner Merge is Ridiculously Bad

To spare you the pain of reading the 170-page opinion [of AT&T/Time Waner] yourself, I went through and pulled out some highlights.  You will note again and again that Judge Leon goes into incredible detail about the businesses of the past, like how the deal might affect cable TV negotiations, while naively glossing over the details of how media works in the present and future. (Buying Time Warner will allow AT&T to… put together clips of CNN to show on phones? Very innovative.) You will also note that the government put on what seems like a very, very weak case. First, Judge Leon says Netflix and Hulu and Google and Facebook are major competitors to AT&T and Time Warner, but both the government and the judge fail to note that all of them depend heavily on open access to AT&T’s network to reach consumers. Then the government’s own expert witness bafflingly cuts down his side’s arguments repeatedly, claiming the merger will save AT&T customers hundreds of millions of dollars. The government does not argue that AT&T preloading its own services and content onto phone and prioritizing their traffic outside of data caps will create an unfair advantage over Netflix. In fact, Netflix is never substantively mentioned again after the introductory section. The judge does not understand that HBO Now and Netflix are both accessed by consumers in the exact same ways. Judge Leon quotes Randall Stephenson calling this a “vision deal.” Twice. AT&T points out — correctly! — that it wants to see more people use more data generally, so it’s fine with other video services. But the government never makes the argument that AT&T will use its network to prioritize Time Warner content and services over competitors. The judge doesn’t figure this out. So the government loses.

AT&T Executive Taking Over HBO and CNN Promises a Hands-Off Approach

A Q&A with John Stankey, the new AT&T executive in charge of new Time Warner properties. After AT&T closed its $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner on Thursday, the wireless giant immediately appointed John Stankey, a 30-year veteran of AT&T, to oversee the part of the business that includes CNN, HBO and valuable film franchises such as “Harry Potter.” Stankey, 55, who once led wireline operations at AT&T and more recently oversaw the start of its streaming service, DirecTV Now, is now in charge of a $31 billion conglomerate that comprises Warner Bros. film studios, Turner and HBO. In an internal note to employees, he announced that John Martin, the chief executive of Turner, would be leaving. The executives under Martin, including CNN’s Jeff Zucker, will report directly to Stankey, as will the HBO chief Richard Plepler and the Warner Bros head Kevin Tsujihara. Jeffrey Bewkes, the chief executive of Time Warner, will be a senior adviser during a transition period and then retire. The Time Warner name will also be retired and the company will be rechristened WarnerMedia. In addition, “many of the redundant corporate support functions” will be eliminated, according to the note. AT&T estimates cost savings of about $2.5 billion over the next few years.

Internet/Broadband

From Availability to Accessibility: Why the Detroit Public Library Began Partnering with Coin Laundromats

How do you Google a question you do not know the specific vocabulary to phrase? How do you sort through all the answers that come up, and avoid the ads that provide false or misleading information? Many people that we work with do not find high-quality, web-based resources to be accessible, even though the resources are technically available. While accessibility is near impossible without availability, availability without accessibility is perhaps even more disappointing. In order to translate availability to accessibility, it's important to remember the importance of social connections. Community partnerships shape how people actually engage with new technologies. The families and individuals that need web-based resources often have different priorities than the organizations who are attempting to serve them. For these families and individuals, urgent priorities include making enough money to provide shelter, food and… clean clothing! While we know literacy, and digital literacy is important, it often takes a back seat to these more basic needs. This consideration of more basic needs is what led us to offer digital literacy programs inside laundromats.

[Allister Chang is Executive Director of Libraries Without Borders. Qumisha Goss is the Pre-Professional Librarian at the Parkman Branch of the Detroit Public Library]

San Francisco hits brakes on high-speed internet plan

San Francisco’s effort to create a citywide broadband internet service for all residents and businesses has suffered a setback as outgoing Mayor Mark Farrell will not place a tax measure on the November ballot to fund the project before he leaves office in the coming weeks. Mayor Farrell, who is expected to leave office mid-July, has been leading the citywide fiber internet project, which had the support of the late Mayor Ed Lee, for several years. Most recently San Francisco had selected three teams of companies who could potentially build and operate it. San Francisco would be the first large city to create a municipal citywide fiber internet service. but Mayor Farrell has decided not to move forward with a revenue initiative for the November ballot to pay for the project, as was previously contemplated. The deadline to submit a tax proposal is June 18.

The end of net neutrality could mean you pay for faster access to sites like Facebook

Ultimately, the internet could someday look like the current cable model where the internet service provider takes a portion of advertising revenue and subscriber fees. “This would be gradual and would most likely affect new services that would have been free, but we may now have to pay for,” said Marty Puranik, chief executive officer of cloud service provider Atlantic.Net. Despite high-resolution movies and virtual reality, and increased speeds, internet costs have not risen proportionately, especially given that the average American spends approximately 40 hours per week online, he said. That may change. Many people are familiar with the dreaded messages from phone service providers alerting them that the monthly data limit has been hit. We may soon see such alerts for our home internet usage, said Steven Andres, an information systems lecturer at the San Diego State University and expert on net neutrality. This makes most sense for companies, given the amount of content currently being served for free, said Robert Ricci, executive director of marketing at digital agency Blue Fountain Media.

Security

FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Staff Submits Comment on Internet of Things and Consumer Product Hazards

In a comment to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) about potential safety issues associated with Internet-connected consumer products, staff of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection (BCP) warned that poorly secured Internet of Things (IoT) devices could pose a consumer safety hazard and outlined ways to mitigate such risks. BCP Staff submitted a response to the CPSC as part of the agency’s Request for Comments on potential safety issues and hazards associated with Internet-connected consumer products. While the CPSC noted that privacy and data security are outside the scope of its inquiry, BCP staff in its comment emphasized that poor security in IoT devices might create technology-related hazards associated with the loss of critical safety function, loss of connectivity, or degradation of data integrity. For example, a car’s braking system might fail if infected with malware, or carbon monoxide or fire detectors could stop working if they lose their Internet connection. Staff also outlined the FTC’s education and enforcement work related to device and information security particularly as it relates to IoT. The FTC has provided IoT manufacturers with guidance on how to predict and mitigate against privacy and security risks.

Wireless/Spectrum

CBO Scores the Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Access Act of 2018

The Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Access Act of 2018 (S 2418) would direct the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a rulemaking to establish a national standard for Universal Service Fund programs to use when determining whether mobile broadband service in rural areas is reasonably comparable to such service in urban areas. Under current law, there is no national standard for comparing mobile broadband in rural and urban areas. The FCC also would be required to gather data on mobile broadband service and periodically report to the Congress on the status of the rulemaking. Using information from the FCC, CBO estimates that implementing S 2418 would cost $1 million over the 2018-2023 period for the agency to conduct a rulemaking and to produce the required reports. However, under current law, the FCC is authorized to collect fees sufficient to offset the costs of its regulatory activities each year; therefore, CBO estimates that the net cost to the FCC to implement the bill would be insignificant, assuming appropriation actions consistent with that authority.  The cash flows of the USF are recorded in the budget as direct spending (for amounts distributed from the fund) and as revenues (for receipts into the fund). Because S. 2418 could affect eligibility for USF programs, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO has no basis for estimating the outcome of future FCC rulemakings that could affect the cost of USF programs to support broadband services in rural areas; costs could increase, decrease, or remain the same. CBO estimates that enacting S. 2343 would not significantly increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. If the FCC increases annual fee collections to offset the costs of the rulemaking and analysis required by the bill, S. 2418 would increase the cost of an existing private-sector mandate on commercial entities required to pay those fees. Using information from the FCC, CBO estimates that the incremental cost of the mandate would be small—approximately $1 million over the 2019-2023 period—and would fall well below the annual threshold established in UMRA for private-sector mandates ($180 million in 2018, adjusted annually for inflation).

The 5G standard is finally finished with new standalone specification

There's finally a finished 5G standard. The 3GPP — the international group that governs cellular standards — officially signed off on the standalone 5G New Radio (NR) spec. It’s another major step toward next-generation cellular networks finally becoming a reality. There’s still more work to be done to finalize things. The real work will be waiting for the entire industry to build the hardware, infrastructure, chips, modems, phones, and antennas that will actually work with 5G. Don’t forget the massive undertaking of actually rolling out those new networks across the globe.

via Vox

Broadcast, Cable to FCC: C-Band Sharing Needs More Study (Broadcasting&Cable)

Cities

San Jose plans smart city infrastructure with Verizon and AT&T

AT&T and San Jose (CA) have added a public-private partnership to their existing small cell agreement. The new agreement calls for San Jose to trial AT&T's smart city solutions. AT&T's digital infrastructure, which the company has described as a "smartphone for cities," is connected hardware with integrated sensors that can be attached to lamp posts to capture information about the environment. AT&T said the solutions it plans to trial with San Jose may include LED smart lighting, public Wi-Fi, digital infrastructure and structure monitoring. The carrier also indicated San Jose will not be one of its launch cities for mobile 5G in 2018, saying AT&T's mobile 5G is scheduled to come to San Jose in 2019. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo thanked Verizon for its "large investment towards improving service for our residents and businesses, and for their sizable contribution into our digital inclusion fund." Verizon will also fund telematics service for San Jose's vehicle fleet. The carrier has recently consolidated its three telematics businesses—Verizon Telematics, Fleetmatics and Telogis—into one unit called Verizon Connect. The upside for Verizon is access to city streets and infrastructure to enable the carrier to upgrade its wireless network with small cells. Verizon plans to deploy fiber in San Jose, which it will use to connect small cells that it will attach to city light poles. In addition, the carrier plans to supply San Jose with three smart city solutions, which it says will be "focused on intersection safety, traffic data and parking space management."

via Fierce

The FCC and cities: The good, the bad, and the ugly

The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) suffers from significant failures of design and execution. Due to these failures, I expect the BDAC and the FCC will adopt a framework in which industry gets all the benefits with no obligations, and municipalities will be forced to bear all the costs and receive no guaranteed benefits. This kind of process will result in a transfer of wealth from public to private enterprises—and leave American cities and metropolitan areas no better positioned to tap into digital telecommunications to unlock innovation and shared economic prosperity. Here I discuss what the BDAC got right and where it veered way off track.

Journalism

Friend and Foe: The Platform Press at the Heart of Journalism

The relationship between technology platforms and news publishers has endured a fraught 18 months. Even so, the external forces of civic and regulatory pressure are hastening a convergence between the two at an accelerated rate beyond what we saw when we published our first report from this study in March 2017. Journalism has played a critical part in pushing for accountability into the practices of companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter, yet newsrooms are increasingly oriented toward understanding and leveraging platforms as part of finding a sustainable future. In the latest phase of our multiyear research into the relationship between platforms and publishers, we found that despite negative rhetoric and sentiment in newsrooms toward technology companies, there is a rapid and ongoing merging in the functions of publishers and platforms, and an often surprisingly high level of involvement from platform companies in influencing news production. 

Our key findings from this phase of research are:

  • According to a survey of over 1,100 working journalists conducted in partnership with NORC, journalists have a conflicted relationship with social media. While the vast majority of journalists said they had adapted practices in the newsroom in response to social platforms, an overwhelming number (86 percent) felt that social media had contributed to a decline in trust in journalism.
  • Half of the survey respondents said social media platforms (such as Facebook) strengthened the relationship with their audience, while 22 percent said it had weakened as a result of social media platforms; 56 percent of respondents said platforms should take “a great deal/quite a bit” of responsibility for financially supporting journalism; and 76 percent of respondents said that Facebook wasn’t doing enough to “combat the problem of fake news and misinformation” on its platform, while 71 percent said the same about Twitter, and 65 percent about Google. Facebook consistently drew the strongest criticism from publishers in all areas of our research.
  • Despite the apparent toxicity of the rhetoric toward technology companies in general, and Facebook in particular, this did not appear to diminish the amount of material publishers directed through social platforms. We have, however, seen a sharp adjustment from publishers away from creating material which lives entirely on third-party platforms. As publishers practiced a “conscious uncoupling” from social media’s influence, platform companies have intensified their own efforts to remain involved in shaping the future of journalism. Whether this is a long term strategy or a public relations initiative remains to be seen.
  • Of the 12 news outlets we tracked over an 18-month period—CNN, Fox News, The New York TimesThe Wall Street JournalThe Washington PostChicago TribuneLos Angeles Times, New York Daily News, BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed News, HuffPost, and Vox—the larger, better-resourced publishers consistently posted more content to a greater range of platforms. The smaller outlets were almost entirely focused on Apple News, Facebook, and Twitter. This was particularly pronounced at the three regional metros, the Chicago TribuneLos Angeles Times, and New York Daily News. By the time of our final analysis, in March 2018, just one percent of posts made by these three local publishers went outside of Apple News, Twitter, and Facebook.
  • Larger publishers still have more access to platform partnership teams and product offerings than smaller and local publications. Local news publishers, in particular, have been hit hard by the loss of advertising revenue. It’s becoming clear that attempting to translate the advertising-driven business model of news publishing from print to digital by posting high volumes of content to social platforms and adopting platform-native products like Facebook’s Instant Articles—which more than half its original partners abandoned once payments to use it ran out—has been a failure. Newer efforts by technology companies, especially Facebook, to help local journalism have borne little fruit, and in some cases have been counterproductive. For instance, even the Facebook News Feed algorithm change announced in January 2018 to prioritize interactions with local news caused a steep drop off in some outlets’ website engagement figures.
  • Platforms continue to shape both the style and substance of publisher content, either directly with financial incentives (Facebook has offered publishers substantial advertising credits on its platform to participate in product rollouts), or indirectly (Apple accepts pitches from publishers seeking to be featured in its news app). There are no signs that this will change. Since news broke in late 2017 that both Apple and Facebook had one-billion-dollar budgets for original programming, Facebook reportedly offeredthree to four million dollars per episode of new programming, and Google-owned YouTube offered two to three million dollars for the same, there has been a distinct pivot toward creating video content among the most well-resourced publishers we interviewed. One publisher told us that platforms are looking toward more “Netflix-style” deals and treating publishers like production companies.
  • Current platform strategies toward news publishing are being shaped less by market forces and more by a mixture of civic duty and fear of regulation. This is leading to the adoption of much more explicit “editorial” practices, including hiring more newsroom journalists and human moderators, and active engagement in other strategies to elevate “higher-quality” news. This will inevitably lead to technology companies having an even greater influence in deciding which news publishers benefit from the environment, and what news consumers see in their feeds and search results.
  • Major concerns persist over the opacity of algorithm changes, the control of the relationship with audiences, the financial support for smaller-scale journalism, and promotion, deletion, or suppression of different types of news stories.
  • We anticipate much more investment from platform companies in curation, whether human or automated, and more resources directed at journalism practice. One unexpected outcome of the past two years of revelation and public debate about platform roles in news has been an expeditious cultural shift within the companies themselves.

Our research suggests that negotiations between platforms and publishers have become more mature and realistic. As the platform press grows up, however, there is still an insufficiently stable environment for a consistent supply of news at all levels. And there remain a number of outstanding issues about the power and opacity of technology companies.

More Online

 


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