Free Press

Free Press Joins Senators in Opposing President Trump's Net Neutrality Rollback

Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron joined a press conference with Sens Ed Markey (D–MA), Richard Blumenthal (D–CT) and Ron Wyden (D–OR), as well as Evan Greer of Fight for the Future, to talk about the Trump Federal Communications Commission’s threats to network neutrality.

In his remarks, Aaron said, "In Ajit Pai’s fantasy world, all will be fine if the companies double-pinky-swear not to interfere with online pathways and portals — despite their long history of doing just that. His justification for launching this attack on internet users is the utterly false and repeatedly debunked claim that the FCC rules are dampening investment to build out and improve networks. Do not believe Pai’s alternative facts. The reality is that in the two years since the FCC's 2015 vote, we’ve actually seen an explosion in over-the-top video competition as well as a dramatic increase in next-generation broadband network deployment. Aggregate investments by publicly traded ISPs are up by more than 5 percent since the order came down....The public won’t be fooled by Chairman Pai’s laughable plan or the empty promises of telecom executives. The free and open internet is just too important to our ability to communicate, to organize and to innovate — and we will fight with everything we’ve got against those trying to take it away."

Sinclair Announces Station Takeover One Day After Trump's FCC Votes to Loosen Ownership Caps

On April 20, the Federal Communications Commission voted to reinstate an obsolete loophole called the UHF discount that will allow broadcast conglomerates to exceed congressionally mandated national TV audience coverage limits. April 21, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nation’s largest television station conglomerate, announced a $240 million deal to buy 14 television stations owned by Bonten Media Group.

Sinclair is also reported to be in negotiations to buy stations owned by Tribune Media Co., a move that would put Sinclair 30 percentage points over the national broadcast ownership cap, if not for the FCC’s move reinstating the UHF discount. The vote came following press reports by Bloomberg News that Chairman Pai had conducted meetings with Sinclair executives days after the Nov. 8 presidential election. Chairman Pai was subsequently tapped by the Trump administration to lead the agency that oversees broadcast ownership limits. Free Press CEO and President Craig Aaron said, “This is a scandal. Sinclair has been boosting Trump and wooing Pai for months — and it’s paying off in the form of the looser limits Sinclair has long sought on how many TV stations the company can own. Sinclair has a track record of taking over stations, gutting news departments and airing conservative propaganda produced far from the local community."

Activists RickRoll FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: Never Gonna Give Up on Net Neutrality

On April 20, several activists “RickRolled” the Federal Communications Commission’s open meeting to protest FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plans to undermine network neutrality. Singing and dancing along to a recording of the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up," the activists disrupted the agency’s monthly meeting and were escorted from FCC headquarters. “We’re never gonna give up fighting for our online rights,” said Free Press Field Director Mary Alice Crim. “Today’s protest was a reminder to Chairman Pai and his boss Donald Trump that people everywhere love the internet. We will do anything and everything to oppose his efforts to destroy the open internet. More than 4 million took a stand for Net Neutrality in 2015, and we aren’t going to take this sitting down today.”

Bringing News Voices to North Carolina

We’re launching News Voices: North Carolina to forge connections between North Carolinians and the newsrooms that serve them. We’re beginning our community-engagement initiatives in Charlotte and the Triangle, and we anticipate working in places like Asheville, the Triad and Wilmington over the next two years. We’ll host small gatherings, trainings and public conversations. We’ll foster collaborations between newsrooms and community groups. We’ll strengthen networks of journalists, media makers and people who care about quality local news and information, building stronger bonds statewide to foster better and more sustainable news coverage of North Carolina.

Trump's FCC and FTC Chairs Rush in to Defend Big Telco's Assault on Internet Privacy

It’s hard to defend legislation that undermines internet users’ essential privacy rights. But that hasn’t stopped the broadband industry and its many friends in Washington from trying.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and Federal Trade Commission Acting Chair Maureen Ohlhausen dismiss the public outpouring of anger as the work of a few professional lobbyists and lawyers. Their claim is insulting to the millions of people who are rightly outraged. And these two should know better than to blame “lobbyists,” especially since both are DC lawyers who once represented the interests of mammoth communications companies.

GOP Lawmakers' Many Privacy Hypocrisies

[Commentary] In essence, the GOP leaders and members voting the wrong way this week have accomplished an exquisitely dishonest trifecta. They gutted the Federal Communications Commission’s privacy rules based on a Title II statute while claiming that the Title II statute still protects you. Then they promised to gut the same Title II statute while claiming that the Federal Trade Commission still protects you. And it turns out they want to gut the FTC too — the very same agency they’re holding up as a champion of privacy protections. Last but not least, these lawmakers say the FTC’s approach to online privacy is superior because the agency analyzes each potential violation on a case-by-case basis while the FCC’s privacy protections are rooted in broad bright-line rules.

With the aid of their industry donors, the GOP has tried to frame this fight as a debate about complex legal authority and bureaucratic procedures. The reality is much simpler. They’re opposed to any regulations that put the interests of real people before the profit margins of monopoly Internet service providers, and they will take up whatever nonsensical procedural complaints are handy to chip away at strong consumer protections.

Tens of Thousands Urge FCC Chairman Pai to Get Serious About the Digital Divide, Stop Restricting Lifeline Services

On March 23, a coalition of digital rights advocates, racial justice groups and grassroots activists called on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to make a more genuine effort to provide affordable internet access for low-income communities. In comments filed as part of an agency proceeding on its Lifeline program, members of Voices for Internet Freedom called on the FCC to reverse a February order revoking the Lifeline status of nine internet-access providers, and to fully implement the Lifeline Modernization Order passed in 2016. The Voices filing notes that the FCC’s revocation “erodes Lifeline's promise to bring affordable broadband to low-income consumers.”

Voices is urging the Commission to avoid any future effort to undermine Lifeline reforms put in place by former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, former Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. Free Press has received more than 13,000 comments from people across the country protesting Pai’s attacks on Lifeline and supporting the expansion of the program to broadband. Another 18,000 public comments were filed by Demand Progress, a digital rights group urging the FCC to support Lifeline and close the digital divide for those who need access most.

Net Neutrality Protesters Face FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

More than a dozen protesters from Free Press, Demand Progress, Open Media, Popular Resistance and the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press took a stand for Net Neutrality at the Federal Communications Commission.

Activists wearing “Protect Net Neutrality” T-shirts filed into the room where the commissioners were holding their monthly open meeting. Once FCC Chairman Ajit Pai kicked off the meeting, the protesters stood and faced him. Security swooped in right away and escorted the activists out. FCC security forced a couple of protesters (and musicians in the punk bands Downtown Boys and Bad Moves) to take off their “Protect Net Neutrality” shirts before letting them in the meeting room — where the First Amendment no longer appears to apply.

The Resistance Must Be Digitized

[Commentary] Over the past two months, millions of people have taken to the streets to challenge our nation’s authoritarian new president. From the women’s marches that took place across the country and around the world to the mass protests against the Muslim ban and immigration raids, people are resisting the neo-fascist agenda President Trump is unleashing on our nation. A primary reason why millions have been able to mobilize so quickly is because they have the ability to use the open internet to communicate to the masses and organize a resistance. That’s why protecting the Net Neutrality rules that keep the internet open is more critical than ever.

As authoritarianism rises, digital free speech can ensure our opposition to authoritarianism also rises. But unfettered access to an open internet, and our ability to flex our digital muscles to advocate for the health and well being of our communities, could soon come to an end. In January, Trump appointed Ajit Pai as the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. In so doing he found someone who shares his disdain for popular democracy, privacy rights, the truth and the poor. And it appears his disdain also extends to the press. But the same communities Pai is targeting are fighting back to demand affordable internet access and to protect the Net Neutrality rules that ensure we can continue to organize and speak for ourselves online. As Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors once wrote: "It is because of Net Neutrality rules that the internet is the only communication channel left where Black voices can speak and be heard, produce and consume, on our own terms." This is why we must resist — and to ensure that the resistance will be digitized.

[Joseph Torres is the senior external affairs director for Free Press. Malkia Cyril is the executive director of the Center for Media Justice and the co-founder of the Media Action Grassroots Network.]

The President's Attack on Public Broadcasting Puts Him at Odds with the American People

On March 16, the president proposed eliminating all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a main revenue source for hundreds of local NPR and PBS stations across the country. The CPB’s $445 million cut amounts to just 0.04 percent of the $1.1 trillion of total annual discretionary spending in the president’s proposal — or approximately $1.35 per person. Seen through another lens, that $445 million amounts to little more than 2 percent of the total cost of Trump’s proposed Mexican border wall — estimated at $21.6 billion by the Department of Homeland Security.

Groups like the Free Press Action Fund and millions of people across the country will fight to save the CPB. A 2017 poll rated PBS and its 350 member stations as the most-trusted nationally known institution. Survey respondents also rated the federal funding that supports PBS as taxpayer money “well spent.” Public and community media are treasured local institutions that are far more popular than Congress or this president.

FCC Chairman Pai Needs to Stop Blocking Opportunities for Low-Income People to Get Online

People with low incomes often have to make difficult choices about how to spend their money to best support their families. This is why so many people are still living without internet access. And those without reliable home internet access are missing out on opportunities to connect to jobs, complete homework and engage in our democracy. Since his promotion to chairman, Ajit Pai has taken steps to limit Lifeline broadband options and has essentially frozen Lifeline implementation. Thanks to the outcry from nearly 40 advocacy groups — including Free Press — Chairman Pai is now inviting public comment on his decision to stop nine companies from providing broadband service to Lifeline customers. That’s why we need to seize this opportunity and urge Pai to help bridge the digital divide. Tell him to revoke his decision on the nine companies and move forward on implementing the Lifeline Modernization Order now.

Racial Justice Leaders Mark the Two-Year Anniversary of the Net Neutrality Rules

Feb 26 was the two-year anniversary of the FCC’s Open Internet Order, the monumental victory that enshrined Net Neutrality principles in strong rules backed by Title II legal authority. On Feb 27, a coalition of racial justice leaders and open internet champions held a briefing to celebrate this important milestone — and to gear up for the fights ahead. As Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron noted, the story of winning Net Neutrality is the story of millions of people showing up to push policymakers in DC to do the right thing.

But some elected officials didn’t need pushing. Rep Maxine Waters (D-CA) understood from the first how important the open internet is for Black and Latinx communities in particular. “The Internet and social media have empowered individuals and communities all across this country to organize and mobilize in unprecedented numbers,” she said. “You have to ask yourself, who would benefit [from] any attempt to roll back internet freedoms?”

Donald Trump's FCC Chairman Spreads More Alternative Facts About Net Neutrality

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai Ajit wants people to believe that he’s a champion for more open and affordable broadband. The actions he’s taken since becoming chairman last month show he’s anything but. Using the exact same kind of unilateral power plays he previously decried in other chairmen, he’s made it far more difficult for low-income families to take advantage of a program that makes broadband access more affordable. His only plan is floating tax breaks to companies for the networks they’re already building, even though he has no power to change tax law and even though these kinds of tax breaks would do nothing to make internet access more affordable.

Pai keeps repeating the utterly debunked claim that the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules are utility-style regulations that are hurting broadband deployment. This is false on the law and false on the facts. It ignores not just the actual language of the FCC order, which explicitly forbears from the bulk of Title II, but the actual impact that Title II reclassification has had on the market. Pai’s claim that Net Neutrality protections have created great uncertainty in the marketplace is a flat-out lie, as is his notion of flatlining investment by internet service providers. We long ago discredited these claims. Pai’s frequent charge that investment has declined is based on the claims made by one industry-paid analyst, who selectively edits the figures reported by some of these companies. But if you take account of the industry’s spending as a whole, you’ll see that broadband-industry investment was nearly 9 percent higher in the two years following the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order than it was in the two years prior. What’s more, these industry aggregate totals don’t tell the whole story. Individual companies large and small significantly increased their broadband-infrastructure investments following the rules’ adoption. Comcast, the nation’s largest ISP, has invested far more in the two years following the FCC's order as the company has rolled out the next generation of cable-modem service. Smaller providers like Cincinnati Bell have increased their investments in fiber-to-the-home technology. And all wireless carriers have invested in completing their 4G deployments and preparing for 5G. Reporters shouldn't let Trump's man at the FCC spread easily debunked falsehoods like these. Pai’s relentless spin and his inaccurate numbers beg the question: What else is Pai misleading us about? People need to take a moment to double check the alternative facts coming from this FCC chairman.

The FBI's New FOIA Policy Is a Big Step Backward

As of March 1, the FBI will no longer accept Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests via e-mail. Anyone seeking public records from the FBI will have to use a new online portal — or send requests via fax or snail mail. Online FOIA portals may seem like a good idea in theory, but government agencies make them difficult to use — with way too many burdensome requirements.

The Freedom of Information Act gives us a legal right to request public records, which allow journalists and watchdogs to hold the government accountable. FOIA requests uncovered harmful covert operations like COINTELPRO — an FBI program designed to dismantle civil rights groups, among others — and also exposed government surveillance of Black Lives Matter activists.

Nearly 200,000 People Urge the FCC to Protect Network Neutrality

On Valentine’s Day, tens of thousands of Free Press members sent out love letters to the open internet that described why they need network neutrality. On Feb 23 we delivered these messages to the Federal Communications Commission.

We were met with resistance from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Services. Both DHS and private security were adamant that we couldn’t protest on FCC property — turning everyone with a sign back to a grassy area across an alley from the building. In addition to taking personal information from two of us who entered the FCC to deliver our comments, private security leafed through all of our documents and then had us X-ray those same boxes of paper. Despite this reception, we managed to deliver our petitions and comments gathered by allies including the Center for Media Justice, Color Of Change, Daily Kos, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, the Nation and Open Media. Our friends from Future of Music Coalition and Free Software Foundation joined in the delivery.

Dozens of Digital Inclusion Groups Urge FCC to Support Internet ‘Lifeline’ for Low-Income Families

Nearly 40 civil rights, social justice, labor and digital inclusion groups sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to reverse its decision that undermined the Lifeline Program.

Under previous FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the agency expanded and modernized Lifeline to help make high-speed internet access more affordable to people in low-income communities around the country. New FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stymied program implementation in one of a number of decisions his FCC bureaus released on Feb. 3. Under Chairman Pai, the FCC revoked Lifeline broadband-provider status previously granted to nine internet service providers. The decision made it more difficult — if not impossible — for tens of thousands of low-income families and students to get online. He took away the connections of 17,500 customers that one of these providers was already serving, and stalled imminent service from other eight.

“Lifeline … is the only federal program poised to bring broadband to poor families across the U.S. so that they can connect to jobs, complete their homework, and communicate with healthcare providers and emergency services,” reads the groups’ letter to the FCC. “[W]e respectfully request that the Commission reject any further efforts to undermine Lifeline, swiftly implement the March 2016 Lifeline modernization order, and overturn the Wireline Competition Bureau’s Order on Reconsideration that rescinded Lifeline Broadband Provider designations for nine carriers prepared to offer Lifeline broadband services.”

Groups signing the letter include the AFL-CIO, the American Library Association, the Benton Foundation, the Center for Media Justice, the Center for Rural Strategies, Color Of Change, Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, Free Press, Generation Justice, Media Mobilizing Project, the NAACP, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Native Public Media, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, and the United Church of Christ, Office of Communication Inc., among others.

For Chairman Pai, Closing the Digital Divide Is Code for More Tax Breaks for Huge ISPs

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai thinks he can set the record straight with more crooked words and made-up numbers. Like his boss in the White House, Chairman Pai should spend less time worrying about his media coverage and more time on his job. And his job is not to cheerlead for more corporate welfare for the biggest internet access providers in the form of tax breaks for their existing deployment plans. His job is to bring the benefits of open networks to all, something he’s failing at so far.

Chairman Pai can dissemble all he wants, but the reality is that on Feb 3 he alone took the promise of free high-speed access away from low-income workers, students, veterans and tribal communities around the country. His disdain for the Lifeline program is reflected in his defensive comments, a clear indication that he will make every effort to dismantle the FCC’s 2016 modernization order and delay its benefits.

New FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Is Off to an Orwellian Start

Newly minted Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai took a page out of President Trump’s playbook and issued his own version of executive orders to undercut affordable broadband, greenlight more media consolidation and endanger key protections for internet users. Chairman Pai bypassed the democratic process, using “delegated authority” to deprive the full Commission of a vote (something he’s repeatedly railed against other chairs for doing), and shoving all these orders out the door on a Friday afternoon. Unfortunately for Chairman Pai, we’re committed to holding him accountable every day of the week. Here are the actions Trump’s new chairman tried to sneak under the radar:
1. Closed the FCC’s inquiry into zero-rating programs.
2. Stopped nine companies from providing discounted broadband to low-income families.
3. Killed the FCC’s guidance to broadcasters regarding shared service agreements and consolidation.
4. Killed a fledgling FCC inquiry regarding flexible spectrum use.
5. Rescinded a report on improving the nation’s digital infrastructure.
6. Rescinded a progress report on E-rate program modernization.
7. Set aside two orders for violations of political-file rules.
8. Set aside a white paper from the FCC’s Homeland Security Bureau addressing cybersecurity risk reduction.
9. Withdrew requirement that noncommercial stations file ownership-diversity data.

The Assault on Freedom of Speech Has Begun at the Border

Last August Free Press wrote about a new rule that allows Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) greater leeway to check the social media accounts of certain visitors as they enter the United States. The rule added a section on social media information to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for visitors traveling from countries that don’t necessarily require a visa to visit the United States. In the wake of President Trump’s ban, new Homeland Security Secretary Gen Kelly stated that “extreme vetting” of immigrants and visitors may now include an examination of their phone contacts, web histories and social media profiles before they’re allowed to enter the United States.

At Free Press we’re aware that aggressive policing and surveillance tools like stingrays, dragnet phone-records collection, and facial recognition are first deployed against marginalized or immigrant communities prior to their inevitable use on the American public at large. It’s a huge problem for people of color in particular, and for civil liberties across the board, when so-called “targeted” surveillance is nothing but an unlawful fishing expedition to collect data on millions of people’s movements, associates, political views and religious beliefs.

Are Police Biased Against Independent Journalists?

On Inauguration Day, police arrested six journalists who were covering protests in Washington (DC). The reporters were hauled before Superior Court judges and each charged with felony counts of “inciting to riot” and cause bodily harm, a crime punishable up to a maximum of 10 years in jail and fines of up to $25,000. By pressing charges against some reporters while releasing others, authorities have made a value judgment about what sort of journalism gets protected and what leads to severe legal penalties. It appears police have a bias against smaller independent reporters and freelancers, who may lack the backing and legal support of larger media outlets.

Government should not be in the position of deciding who is and who isn’t a journalist. Authorities can’t determine who’s allowed to engage in acts of journalism and who doesn’t have the right. But the First Amendment isn’t enough. People need to stand up for these reporters — especially now that they are under attack on so many fronts — and show their outrage by speaking out in support of journalists’ rights whenever these arrests occur.

Free Press Tells New FCC Leadership That Affordability Is the Key to Bridging the Digital Divide

Free Press delivered a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency’s new leadership to take serious strides toward closing the digital divide by making broadband more affordable. New FCC Chairman Ajit Pai recently claimed that closing the divide was going to be “one of his core priorities” during his tenure.

The Free Press letter commends Chairman Pai for this new focus, but strikes a note of caution given his prior track record as a commissioner. “No matter how laudable the new chairman’s sentiment may be, his proposals to close that divide could be ineffective — and even harmful,” Free Press warns. “The Commission must not subsidize build-out that is already occurring in the market, and yet not even address the primary structural barrier keeping tens of millions of people offline: affordability of the services already available to them.” ”Our research contains many similar findings that all point to the same conclusion: the root cause of the adoption gap is the lack of affordability, and that is an outcome created primarily by a market structure that produces too few affordable choices and suboptimal competition. The adoption gap is an affordability gap,” the Free Press letter reads. Pai’s preliminary plan focuses on giving significant tax breaks to the handful of ISPs that control the broadband-access marketplace. Pai proposes using taxpayer dollars to fund the construction of gigabit networks in below-average-income neighborhoods, despite the fact that most of these deployment projects are already underway. His plan does nothing to make these services affordable.

Race, the Media and Politics in the Trump Era

Over the weekend, News Voices: New Jersey partnered with WNYC in Newark to bring together local leaders, lawmakers, artists and residents to engage in important discussions about race, the media and politics in the Trump era. More than 150 people came together at the Newark Public Library to have a critical conversation about the ways these issues play out in the city. The discussion took place as thousands were taking action at airports across the country in defense of the rights of refugees and Muslims.

My colleague Mike Rispoli and I started planning this event with WNYC’s Rebecca Carroll last August. But the conversation about race in America has taken on new meaning and urgency over the last 11 days. We were all there to all listen, share and reflect on what we could do to better understand the impact of systemic and structural racism in America. The program included three one-on-one conversations covering the American dream, tokenism, black feminism and the women’s marches.

“Ajit Pai has been on the wrong side of just about every major issue”

Ajit Pai has been on the wrong side of just about every major issue that has come before the Federal Communications Commission during his tenure. He’s never met a mega-merger he didn’t like or a public safeguard he didn’t try to undermine. He’s been an inveterate opponent of Net Neutrality, expanded broadband access for low-income families, broadband privacy, prison-phone justice, media diversity and more. Pai has been an effective obstructionist who looks out for the corporate interests he used to represent in the private sector. If the new president really wanted an FCC chairman who’d stand up against the runaway media consolidation that Trump himself decried in the AT&T/Time Warner deal, Pai would have been his last choice — though corporate lobbyists across the capital are probably thrilled. Millions of Americans from across the political spectrum have looked to the FCC to protect their rights to connect and communicate and cheered decisions like the historic Net Neutrality ruling, and Pai threatens to undo all of that important work. Those millions will rise up again to oppose his reactionary agenda.

Five Years Later, SOPA and PIPA Serve as a Warning to the Trump Administration

Five years ago today, millions of people came together to shock Washington into action on behalf of the public. Jan 18, 2012 was a day of mass protests against legislation that would have undermined the free and open exchange of information online. The lobbyist-fueled SOPA and PIPA bills were designed to shut down massive tracts of internet content without due process or accountability. The Washington consensus was that this legislation’s passage was a foregone conclusion.

But on Jan 18, we stopped the inevitable. Fifty thousand websites — including Google, Wikipedia and Reddit — symbolically “blacked out” their webpages to protest the legislation. Nearly 10 million people took action online or by phone, urging Congress to ditch the bill. By the end of the day, dozens of senators had come forward to oppose PIPA. The House version, SOPA, had already been put on hold after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi bent to public pressure and tweeted that they “need[ed] to find a better solution.” A Senate staffer at the time said that “phones were melting” across Capitol Hill. However important the SOPA/PIPA victory was in 2012, its lasting significance depends on how well the internet-freedom coalition holds together in the fights that lie ahead. Whatever form these new threats take, millions of people must remain united and ready to act.