Ownership

Google to give $1 billion to nonprofits and help Americans get jobs in the new economy

Google will invest $1 billion over the next five years in nonprofit organizations helping people adjust to the changing nature of work, the largest philanthropic pledge to date from the Internet giant. The announcement of the national digital skills initiative, made by Google CEO Sundar Pichai in Pittsburgh (PA), is a tacit acknowledgment from one of the world's most valuable companies that it bears some responsibility for rapid advances in technology that are radically reshaping industries and eliminating jobs in the US and around the world. Pichai's pitstop in an old industrial hub that has reinvented itself as a technology and robotics center is the first on a "Grow with Google Tour." The tour that will crisscross the country will work with libraries and community organizations to provide career advice and training.

President Trump praises Hannity's ratings: 'I'm very proud of you'

President Donald Trump took a moment during his interview with Fox's Sean Hannity to praise the host for his recent ratings rise since moving into the 9 p.m. timeslot to directly challenge MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. “I will say this, you have been so great,” President Trump said to Hannity during their Oct 11 interview. "I’m very proud of you.” “I am a ratings person. Has anyone seen his ratings? What you are doing to your competition is incredible," Trump said to Hannity. "Number one, and I am very proud of you. An honor to be on your show.”

Comcast found a way to raise other cable companies’ prices, rivals say

Comcast is increasingly making demands in TV programming contract negotiations that would force its smaller rivals to raise their minimum cable TV prices, a lobby group for small cable companies told the Federal Communications Commission Oct 11. The American Cable Association (ACA), which represents nearly 800 small and medium-sized cable operators, asked the FCC to investigate the practice and prohibit it under its program access rules.

The issue relates to Comcast's ownership of regional sports networks that are marketed under the brand of Comcast's NBC subsidiary. Comcast wants to redefine the so-called "minimum penetration policy," essentially making it impossible for small cable companies to sell a cheap, basic tier of TV service that doesn't include higher-priced channels, the ACA alleged.

Rep Ellison Seeks Google Info From FTC

Rep Keith Ellison (D-MN) has asked Federal Trade Commission Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen for documentation of its long-running antitrust investigation of Google, which was closed in 2013 with no finding of antitrust violations. In 2013, the FTC concluded: "Google’s display of its own content could plausibly be viewed as an improvement in the overall quality of Google’s search product. Similarly, we have not found sufficient evidence that Google manipulates its search algorithms to unfairly disadvantage vertical websites that compete with Google-owned vertical properties."

That came despite complaints to Congress from some small online businesses that Google was disfavoring them in search. Rep Ellison points out that Google did volunteer to change some business practices in the wake of the investigation. "Given the impact Google has on small businesses, the flow of information, and that Google controls an outsize portion of the market for online search and online advertising, the public has a right to know what the Federal Trade Commission found in its investigation into Google," Ellison said in a letter to Ohlhausen.

What would happen if President Trump really did crack down on media that criticize him?

[Commentary] As unprecedented as President Donald Trump’s relentless and angry attack on the media is, it’s important to realize that unless he wants to break the law by doing something like ordering wiretaps of reporters (as Nixon did), there’s not much he can do. He could create an enemies list and instruct his aides not to speak to certain journalists. But given how incredibly leaky his White House is, they’d probably ignore him. He can try to discredit certain news organizations, which he has done.

But you may have noticed that the main targets of his ire (CNN and the Times) are doing quite well in the Trump era. He has the power of the bully pulpit, but at least in this area, he’s finding it awfully hard to put his authoritarian impulses into practice. Which of course will only make him more enraged as he turns on cable news or picks up the paper and fails to find the praise he seeks. At least he’s got “Fox & Friends” to make him feel better.

President Trump threatens NBC over critical coverage

President Donald Trump suggested that media companies which report critically on him should be punished by having their television station licenses revoked. In a tweet, the President decried the supposed "fake news coming out of NBC and the Networks." He asked, "At what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!" President Trump seems to have been furious over an NBC News report that said he wanted a tenfold increase in the US' nuclear arsenal. He claimed the story was "pure fiction" and "made up to demean."

Trump's veiled threat may contribute to the increasingly-chilly atmosphere journalists in the US are working under during his Administration. But his threat is essentially toothless. First of all, there is no single license for NBC or any other national television network. Licenses are granted to individual local stations -- and NBC doesn't even own most of the stations that broadcast its content across the country. And it is extremely unusual for any station's license to be taken away for any reason, much less for a political vendetta. The licenses for local television stations are subject to review by the Federal Communications Commission every eight years. It would not be possible for President Trump or his allies to challenge all of the licenses held by NBC in one fell swoop. Individuals who reside in the areas the local channel airs would have to submit complaints to the FCC.

Senator Markey Calls on FCC to Reject Trump Threats to Revoke NBC Broadcast License, Undermine FCC Independence

Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) called on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to reject any efforts by President Donald Trump or his administration to infringe on the First Amendment or undermine the independence of the FCC. On Oct 11, President Trump tweeted, “[w]ith all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” In his letter, Sen Markey asks Chairman Pai to provide any correspondence or communications from the White House or other members of the Trump administration that have encouraged the FCC to take action against a broadcaster.

Should Facebook and Twitter be Regulated Under the First Amendment?

[Commentary] Are social media platforms like Twitter subject to the First Amendment? Is there a right to free speech on social media owned by private corporations? The Knight First Amendment Institute thinks so. In July, the institute sued the president, his director of social media, and his press secretary to unblock the blocked. By banning these users based on views they expressed about tweets by the president, the Institute argues, Trump violated the users’ right to free speech because the blocks were based on disagreement with the users’ messages. Two weeks ago, as part of this litigation, lawyers for the president acknowledged that he personally blocked the Twitter users “because the Individual Plaintiffs posted tweets that criticized the president or his policies”—what free speech law calls “viewpoint discrimination.” In places where the First Amendment applies—such as public forums—it bars the government or its officials from such bias....

As it stands, the country’s libertarian conception of free speech is allowing, and even ferociously feeding, an erosion of the democracy it is supposed to be essential in making work—and some government regulation of speech on social media may be required to save it.

[Lincoln Caplan is the Truman Capote Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School ]

Tech Big Five Want to Rule Entertainment. They Are Hitting Limits.

[Commentary] The tech giants are too big. Other than President Donald J. Trump, that’s the defining story of 2017, the meta-narrative lurking beneath every other headline. The companies I call the Frightful Five — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Alphabet, Google’s parent company — have experienced astounding growth over the last few years, making them the world’s five most valuable public companies. Because they own the technology that will dominate much of life for the foreseeable future, they are also gaining vast social and political power over much of the world beyond tech.

Now that world is scrambling to figure out what to do about them. And it is discovering that the changes they are unleashing — in the economy, in civic and political life, in arts and entertainment, and in our tech-addled psyches — are not simple to comprehend, let alone to limit. This is the first of several columns in which I’ll take measure of the Five. Here, I assess their efforts to infiltrate entertainment — their plans to push deeper into the business of movies, TV and music, and the fears of cultural domination those moves have provoked.

Supreme Court asks Justice Department for views in Apple antitrust case

The US Supreme Court asked the Trump administration for its views on whether to hear Apple’s bid to avoid a class-action lawsuit accusing the tech giant of inflating consumer prices by charging illegally high commissions on iPhone software sales through its App Store. The justices are considering whether to take up Apple’s appeal of a lower court ruling that allowed the proposed class-action suit alleging it violated federal antitrust law to proceed. Apple said the case should be thrown out because only developers of the apps who were charged the commissions, not consumers, should be entitled to bring such a suit.

Apple charges app developers a 30 percent commission on App Store consumer purchases. The Justice Department will provide the high court with its stance on the matter. The dispute could have a major impact on electronic commerce, which has seen explosive growth, with $390 billion in US retail sales in 2016.

CenturyLink pleads with FCC to approve Level 3 acquisition

CenturyLink is making a final push to get the Federal Communications Commission to approve its pending acquisition of Level 3 Communications, with hopes of closing it in October 2017. The FCC is the only regulator that has yet to sign off on the purchase. To date, CenturyLink and Level 3’s proposed merger has gotten approvals from 19 states. It has also gained pre-closing notice filings in 14 other states. At this point, CenturyLink and Level only need the final sign off from the California Public Utilities Commission, which is expected to approve the acquisition during a meeting in Oct.

The Secrets of Google’s Moonshot Factory

X is the so-called moonshot factory at Alphabet, the parent company of Google. The purpose of X is not to solve Google’s problems; thousands of people are already doing that. Nor is its mission philanthropic. Instead X exists, ultimately, to create world-changing companies that could eventually become the next Google.

The enterprise considers more than 100 ideas each year, in areas ranging from clean energy to artificial intelligence. But only a tiny percentage become “projects,” with full-time staff working on them. It’s too soon to know whether many (or any) of these shots will reach the moon: X was formed in 2010, and its projects take years; critics note a shortage of revenue to date. But several projects—most notably Waymo, its self-driving-car company, recently valued at $70 billion by one Wall Street firm—look like they may.

President Trump Tweets NFL Threat

President Donald Trump threatened the NFL with trying to eliminate a long-standing tax break over the issue of players kneeling during the National Anthem. Vice President Mike Pence left a Colts/49ers game early on Oct 8 after some players took a knee. The President said later he had instructed the Vice President to do so. The NFL threat came in a tweet Oct 10, one of two related to television and sports (the other slammed ESPN for low ratings). "Why is the NFL getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country? Change tax law!" the President tweeted.

Britain looking at Google, Facebook role in news

Britain is looking at the role of Google and Facebook in the provision of news and what their wider responsibilities and legal status should be, said a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May. As more people get their news through Google and Facebook, some in the industry say the internet giants are publishers and not just platforms, meaning they should be held responsible for the content and regulated like traditional news providers.

“We are looking at the role Google and Facebook play in the news environment,” the spokesman told reporters, saying the work was part of a commitment to produce a digital charter setting out how firms and individuals should behave online. “As part of that work we will look carefully at the roles, responsibility and legal status of the major internet platforms.”

Google Fiber and the future of cable

[Commentary] Cable is no longer the “bottleneck” that Congress once assumed it was for delivering video into American homes. This calls into question the continuing value of must-carry, retransmission consent and other regimes based on this premise.

As a mature-to-declining product, cable must cut costs to remain viable against new competitors. This dynamic explains the recent rise in merger activity among cable operators. Building economies of scale can strengthen regional cable operators’ negotiations with programmers and can help them compete more effectively against Netflix and other alternatives, which are national in scope. It is important that antitrust regulators recognize cable as only one part of a larger market for video services — and allow them to compete accordingly.

[Daniel Lyons is an associate professor at Boston College Law School]

Amazon prepares to break into ad industry

Amazon is making a serious effort to break into the digital advertising business, an arena dominated by its fellow behemoth competitors, Google and Facebook. The company is opening a new office in New York City, which it says will bring more than 2,000 jobs. The new space will also bring it closer to New York’s advertising agencies. Media agency executives have already said that they have been increasingly contacted by Amazon representatives trying to sell them and their clients ad space. Amazon has already begun to beef up its ad sales team and enhance its programmatic advertising business.

Google uncovers Russian-bought ads on YouTube, Gmail and other platforms

Google for the first time has uncovered evidence that Russian operatives exploited the company’s platforms in an attempt to interfere in the 2016 election, apparently.

The Silicon Valley giant has found that tens of thousands of dollars were spent on ads by Russian agents who aimed to spread disinformation across Google’s many products, which include YouTube, as well as advertising associated with Google search, Gmail, and the company’s DoubleClick ad network. Google runs the world’s largest online advertising business, and YouTube is the world’s largest online video site. The discovery by Google is also significant because the ads do not appear to be from the same Kremlin-affiliated troll farm that bought ads on Facebook -- a sign that the Russian effort to spread disinformation online may be a much broader problem than Silicon Valley companies have unearthed so far.

Democratic Sens asks DOJ and FCC to investigate potential Sprint-T-Mobile merger

A group of Democratic Sens is asking regulators to investigate the potential effects of a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. In letters to the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission on Oct 6, the eight senators, led by Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), said they are concerned that the potential deal could hurt consumers.

“Beginning an investigation into a merger of T-Mobile and Sprint now will allow your agencies to quickly, but fully, review the agreement if it is announced,” they wrote. “Indeed, multiple news sources are reporting that the two parties are close to a deal in principle. The likelihood of the transaction occurring combined with the serious issues that it raises provide compelling reason for DOJ and the FCC to begin investigating the potential transaction.” The letter was also signed by Sens Al Franken (D-MN), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Edward Markey (D-MA), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

Facebook tells advertisers more scrutiny is coming

Facebook is going to require advertisements that are targeted to people based on "politics, religion, ethnicity or social issues" to be manually reviewed before they go live, according to an e-mail sent to advertisers. That's a higher standard than that required of most Facebook ads, which are bought and uploaded to the site through an automated system. It's also warning that it expects the new policy to slow down the launch of new ad campaigns.

The steps Facebook is taking to combat questions of Russian election interference strike at the core of the company's business. The ad buyers who spent $450 million on Facebook ads love the platform's speed and efficiency — something they fear will be diminished by inserting more human oversight of political ads before they go live. The company's action comes as a political ad disclosure bill gains momentum on Capitol Hill.

Facebook’s chief security officer let loose at critics on Twitter over the company’s algorithms

Facebook’s chief security officer, Alex Stamos, took to Twitter to deliver an unusually raw tweetstorm defending the company’s software algorithms against critics who believe Facebook needs more oversight. Facebook uses algorithms to determine everything from what you see and don’t see in News Feed, to finding and removing other content like hate speech and violent threats. The company has been criticized in the past for using these algorithms — and not humans — to monitor its service for things like abuse, violent threats, and misinformation. The algorithms can be fooled or gamed, and part of the criticism is that Facebook and other tech companies don’t always seem to appreciate that algorithms have biases, too. Stamos says it’s hard to understand from the outside.

Regulate Facebook Like AIM

[Commentary] One of the former most popular and influential instant messaging apps in the world, AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM, is shutting down on December 15. But if it weren't for a Federal Communication Commission regulatory decision in 2001, we might all still be using it.

Sixteen years ago, the FCC, the regulatory body responsible for things like television and radio, approved a merger between American Online and Time Warner, but with several conditions. As part of the deal, AOL was required to make its web portal compatible with other chat apps. The government stopped AOL from building a closed system where everyone had to use AIM, meaning it had to adopt interoperability—the ability to be compatible with other computer systems. The FCC required AOL to be compatible with at least one instant messaging rival immediately after the merger went through. Within six months, the FCC required AOL to make its portal compatible with at least two other rivals, or face penalties. The FCC's decision to force AOL to remain open provides a blueprint for how the government could similarly regulate today's gigantic internet platforms, like Facebook.

House Russia Investigators Call Facebook, Twitter for Nov 1 Hearing

The House Intelligence Committee is asking officials from Facebook, Twitter, and Alphabet’s Google to testify publicly as part of its Russia probe on Nov. 1, the same day as a planned Senate Intelligence hearing. That would set up a marathon day for the social media companies, which are facing increasing scrutiny over the role their platforms played in Russia’s efforts to meddle in the U.S. election. The House panel previously said it was looking at sometime in October to bring technology companies in for a hearing.

Facebook Cut Russia Out of April Report on Election Influence

Facebook cut references to Russia from a public report in April about manipulation of its platform around the presidential election because of concerns among the company’s lawyers and members of its policy team, apparently. The drafting of the report sparked internal debate over how much information to disclose about Russian mischief on Facebook and its efforts to affect U.S. public opinion during the 2016 presidential contest.

Some at Facebook pushed to not include a mention of Russia in the report because the company’s understanding of Russian activity was too speculative, apparently. Ultimately, the 13-page report, published on April 27 and titled “Information Operations and Facebook,” was shortened by several pages by Facebook’s legal and policy teams from an earlier draft, and didn’t mention Russia at all. Rather, it concluded that “malicious actors” engaged in influence campaigns during the U.S. presidential election but said it couldn’t determine who was responsible. The extent of Facebook’s understanding at the time of Russian influence is unclear. It wasn’t until a Sept. 6 Facebook newsroom blog post that the company publicly identified Russia as a source of such efforts.

Our minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia

There is a small but growing band of Silicon Valley heretics who complain about the rise of the so-called “attention economy”: an internet shaped around the demands of an advertising economy. These refuseniks are rarely founders or chief executives, who have little incentive to deviate from the mantra that their companies are making the world a better place. Instead, they tend to have worked a rung or two down the corporate ladder: designers, engineers and product managers who, like Rosenstein, several years ago put in place the building blocks of a digital world from which they are now trying to disentangle themselves.

There is growing concern that as well as addicting users, technology is contributing toward so-called “continuous partial attention”, severely limiting people’s ability to focus, and possibly lowering IQ. But those concerns are trivial compared with the devastating impact upon the political system that some of Rosenstein’s peers believe can be attributed to the rise of social media and the attention-based market that drives it. Drawing a straight line between addiction to social media and political earthquakes like Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, they contend that digital forces have completely upended the political system and, left unchecked, could even render democracy as we know it obsolete.