Warren Hinckle, Ramparts Editor Who Embraced Gonzo Journalism [links to New York Times]
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2016
Today's Events -- FirstNet Board Meeting and CPB Board of Directors Meeting -- https://www.benton.org/calendar/2016-08-26
OWNERSHIP
FCC Releases 2014 Quadrennial Review of the Commission's Broadcast Ownership Rules - public notice
House Judiciary Committee Chairman denounces FCC media rules
ELECTIONS 2016
The Next President's Tech Legacy Has a Head Start - analysis
Clinton quietly amasses tech policy corps
Where Clinton And Trump Stand On Cybersecurity And Privacy [links to Benton summary]
Reuters’s new polling simulator is built for the age of Trump [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
Apple boosts iPhone security after powerful spyware targets an activist
All the Ways Your Wi-Fi Router Can Spy on You [links to Atlantic, The]
WhatsApp to share users’ numbers, some data with Facebook [links to San Jose Mercury News]
SURVEILLANCE
Secret Cameras Record Baltimore's Every Move From Above [links to Benton summary]
CONTENT
Activists call for Facebook 'censorship' change after Korryn Gaines death [links to Guardian, The]
HEALTH
How Parents Harnessed the Power of Social Media to Challenge EpiPen Prices [links to New York Times]
TELEVISION
AT&T: CCIA 'Compromise' Is Gussied Up FCC NPRM [links to Benton summary]
JOURNALISM
Want to Own a Newspaper? A Vermont Contest Has Trouble Finding Takers [links to New York Times]
DIVERSITY
“Silicon Valley is hostile to diversity,” says Slack Director of Engineering Leslie Miley [links to Ars Technica]
Where Are the Women? Not Behind the Mic. [links to New America]
Solving the Mystery of Cyber Diversity [links to New America]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
US CIO Tony Scott continues push for Information Technology Modernization Fund [links to Hill, The]
COMPANY NEWS
Google Fiber is pulling back on its broadband rollout as pressure grows to cut costs [links to Revere Digital]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
UK lawmakers target Twitter over terrorism [links to Hill, The]
Europe plans news levy on search engines
China Sets New Tone in Drafting Cybersecurity Rules [links to Wall Street Journal]
back to top
OWNERSHIP
MEDIA OWNERSHIP REPORT AND ORDER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission adopted on August 10 and released on Aug 25 its Second Report and Order, bringing to a close the 2010 and 2014 Quadrennial Review proceedings. The FCC maintains strong media ownership rules, takes steps to help promote small business participation in the broadcast industry, and adopts rules that will help to promote transparency in local television markets. The FCC found that the public interest is best served by retaining its existing rules, with some minor modifications.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-releases-2014-quadrennial-review-commissions-broadcast-ownership-rules | Federal Communications Commission | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Pai | Commissioner O’Rielly
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN DENOUNCES FCC MEDIA RULES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Ali Breland]
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) tore into the Federal Communications Commission's updated media ownership rules. The FCC’s rules dictate that entities cannot own both a newspaper and broadcast station in the same market. The requirement isn’t new, but the FCC decided in August to keep the regulation in place after a review. In a statement, Chairman Goodlatte said the FCC had “overreacted” and that it was “likely to harm the objectives of smaller media outlets eager to compete.” “Today, the FCC continues its recent tradition of advancing unnecessary and burdensome regulations on a partisan basis while ignoring new technologies and market realities, with the likely outcome of harming competition,” he said. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) also noted its disappointment on the ruling in a letter to the FCC, and the group later sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the agency for documents regarding the decision. The NAB characterized the FCC’s decision as a “ ‘head in the sand’ approach” to the media marketplace.
benton.org/headlines/house-judiciary-committee-chairman-denounces-fcc-media-rules | Hill, The
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
ELECTIONS 2016
TECH LEGACY
[SOURCE: New America, AUTHOR: Sarah Morris]
[Commentary] Between election day and inauguration day, there are ten and a half weeks for a new President to get his or her policy agenda in order, and the next President will need to hit the ground running once in office. When it comes to internet policy, it will be necessary to build on the forward momentum that has brought this Administration closer to closing the digital divide. President Obama’s technology agenda was ambitious, particularly on issues like network neutrality and broadband access and adoption, and his success on those issues is likely to shape his legacy as a technology leader. One of the most important tasks on the next President’s plate will be to resist the temptation to focus exclusively on newer, shinier policy priorities, and to instead continue to build on the groundwork that the Obama Administration laid to fully close the digital divide. President Barack Obama worked to ensure an open, robust, and affordable internet in communities across the country. He made impressive progress. But the next President must ensure that the benefits of broadband access are realized for all communities.
benton.org/headlines/next-presidents-tech-legacy-has-head-start | New America
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
CLINTON’S TECH TEAM
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Margaret Harding McGill, Nancy Scola]
Hillary Clinton's campaign has tapped a network of more than 100 tech and telecom advisers to craft a policy agenda that echoes many of Silicon Valley's top priorities, from knocking down laws that limit innovation to defanging so-called patent trolls. The breadth of her outreach to technology experts — not previously reported — marks yet another contrast with Donald Trump, who has offered few clues about who might have his ear on issues important to the tech sector, and whose positions on issues like immigration have alienated large segments of the industry. Even more than Barack Obama did eight years ago, Clinton conspicuously embraces Silicon Valley's view of the world and what it needs from Washington — a view that’s often at odds with long-standing interest groups such as taxi unions and big cable companies. Clinton’s tech advisers — divided into about a half-dozen working groups — provided input for the "technology and innovation" agenda that she released June 28.
benton.org/headlines/clinton-quietly-amasses-tech-policy-corps | Politico
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
SECURITY/PRIVACY
APPLE BOOSTS IPHONE SECURITY AFTER POWERFUL SPYWARE TARGETS AN ACTIVIST
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
A botched attempt to break into an activist's iPhone using hitherto unknown espionage software has triggered a global upgrade of Apple's mobile operating system, researchers said Aug 25. The spyware took advantage of three previously undisclosed weaknesses in Apple's mobile operating system to take control of iPhone devices, according to reports published by the San Francisco-based Lookout smartphone security company and Internet watchdog group Citizen Lab. Both reports pointed to the NSO Group, an Israeli company with a reputation for flying under the radar, as the author of the spyware. Such a compromise would give hackers full control over the phone, enabling them to eavesdrop on calls, harvest messages, activate cameras and microphones and drain the device of its personal data. Apple said it fixed the vulnerability immediately after learning about it, but the security hole may have gone unpatched had it not been for the wariness of a human rights activist in the United Arab Emirates. The malware was used to target journalists and activists in some cases, according to Citizen Lab.
benton.org/headlines/apple-boosts-iphone-security-after-powerful-spyware-targets-activist | Associated Press | Washington Post | CNN
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
STORIES FROM ABROAD
EUROPE PLANS LEVY ON SEARCH ENGINES
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Duncan Robinson]
European news publishers will be given the right to levy fees on internet platforms such as Google if search engines show snippets of their stories, under radical copyright reforms being finalised by the European Commission. The proposals, to be published in September, are aimed at diluting the power of big online operators, whose market share in areas such as search leads to unbalanced commercial negotiations between the search engine and content creators, according to officials. At the heart of the draft copyright plan, news publishers would receive “exclusive rights” to make their content available online to the public in a move that would force services such as Google News to agree terms with news organisations for showing extracts of articles. Citing dwindling revenues at news organisations, the commission warns that failure to push on with such a policy would be “prejudicial for . . . media pluralism.”
benton.org/headlines/europe-plans-news-levy-search-engines | Financial Times
Share: Twitter | Facebook
back to top
