August 2016

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2016

A look at next week’s events https://www.benton.org/calendar/2016-08-14--P1W

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   The Next Generation of Wireless — “5G” — Is All Hype - Susan Crawford op-ed
   The first company that wanted to 'connect the world' wasn't Google or Facebook - op-ed

INTERNET/BROADBAND/TELECOM
   Too Poor to Afford the Internet - op-ed
   Google pushes rivals to offer high-speed Internet service
   Groups Say Transitioning Internet-Naming Agency Would Break Law
   Combination of Need, Cost and Innovations Are Rekindling the Muni Wireless Dream - Craig Settles op-ed
   Student debt collectors want to robo-call your cellphone, but FCC says not so fast [links to Washington Post]

DIVERSITY
   Diversity at Intel Is a Work in Progress [links to Wall Street Journal]

CONTENT
   The Music Industry's New War Is About So Much More Than Copyright [links to Fast Company]
   Facebook to give 'informative' posts more weight [links to USAToday]
   Adblock Plus has already defeated Facebook's new ad blocking restrictions [links to Verge, The]
   An ode to local knowledge in the age of Google [links to Washington Post]

ENGAGEMENT
   The next frontier of online activism is ‘woke’ chatbots

ELECTION 2016
   Alex Jones: “It Is Surreal To Talk About Issues Here On Air And Then Word-For-Word Hear Trump Say It Two Days Later” [links to Media Matters for America]
   Hack of Democrats’ Accounts Was Wider Than Believed, Officials Say [links to New York Times]
   The e-mail controversy that Clinton hoped had died out when prosecutors closed their investigation looks likely to shadow her through Election Day [links to Wall Street Journal]
   A Texting Truth Often Forgotten in Politics: Your Phone Remembers Everything [links to New York Times]

JOURNALISM
   Donald trump and the Limits of Data Journalism [links to Vanity Fair]

OWNERSHIP
   Arianna Huffington Stepping Down as Huffington Post Editor in Chief [links to New York Times]
   Why Arianna Huffington left the Huffington Post [links to Revere Digital]

EDUCATION
   Social Media Use Linked to Low Math, Reading, Science Performance [links to Education Week]

GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
   In July the OMB updated Circular A-130, the federal government’s go-to foundational guide for managing federal information resource. It’s a huge deal [links to nextgov]
   Federal Communications Commission Section 504 Programs & Activities Accessibility Handbook [links to Federal Communications Commission]

POLICYMAKERS
   Obama's staff is taking over Silicon Valley [links to CNNMoney]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Google Fined for Breaking Russian Antitrust Rules With Android [links to New York Times]
   Shaking things app – how smartphones revolutionised Nigerian music [links to Guardian, The]
   Celebrities warned by UK’s Competition and Markets Authority over paid-for social media endorsements [links to Financial Times]

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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

5G IS HYPE
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford]
[Commentary] When it comes to hype, “5G” is this year’s “cold fusion.”
The meaning seems obvious — our current communications system is 4G, so of course we must already have the next generation in line. Telecom executives play on this perception. Lowell McAdam, the CEO of Verizon, says 5G is “wireless fiber.” (And I thought fiber was fiber.) SK Telecom says it will soon be able to transfer holograms and enable virtual reality over 5G networks that are 100 times faster than current 4G LTE connections. Noise about 5G is incessant and triumphant, a constant drumbeat of predictions crowing about the arrival any day now of seemingly costless, ubiquitous, instantaneous, unlimited connectivity. The “5G” story is far more complex, calculated, and contingent than anyone in the carriers’ PR departments wants you to know. There is no 5G standard — yet. This “wireless fiber” will never happen unless we have… more fiber. In order to work, 99% of any “5G” wireless deployment will have to be fiber running very close to every home and business.
[Crawford is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a co-director of the Berkman Center]
benton.org/headlines/next-generation-wireless-5g-all-hype | Medium
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MARCONI
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Marc Raboy]
[Commentary] CEO Mark Zuckerberg attracted a lot of attention — including from some telecom regulators — with his pronouncement that Facebook would “connect the world” by bringing limited Internet access to the unconnected in countries like India. His plan and others like it generally raise the hackles of government officials who are, perhaps rightly, wary of allowing giant corporations and the moguls who run them to have too much control over communications systems. Technology companies and governments have been locked in this type of conflict for over 100 years, ever since a youthful Irish-Italian inventor by the name of Guglielmo Marconi patented the very first system for wireless communication. They weren’t using terms like network neutrality back then, but most of our ideas about telecom regulation – both for and against – have their origins in efforts to block Marconi’s near-monopoly control of the airwaves over a century ago. They made the case that competition would lead to lower rates and improved service — in other words, would be good for consumers around the world and hence a legitimate objective for an international treaty. The heart of the matter was an understanding of regulation. Despite their political differences, most governments agreed that they had the right to intervene by regulating the radio spectrum.
[Marc Raboy is a professor of communication at McGill University and the author of “Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World.”]
benton.org/headlines/first-company-wanted-connect-world-wasnt-google-or-facebook | Los Angeles Times
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

TOO POOR TO AFFORD THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Anthony Marx]
[Commentary] In New York City, with broadband costing on average $55 per month, 25 percent of all households and 50 percent of those making less than $20,000 lack this service at home. People line up, sometimes for hours, to use the library system’s free computers. Go into any library in the nation and you’ll most likely see the same thing. They come to do what so many of us take for granted: apply for government services, study or do research, talk with family or friends, inform themselves as voters, and just participate in our society and culture — so much of which now takes place online. Our public libraries are charged with providing free access to information, and in recent years we have had to create new ways of doing that. Leaking broadband (frankly, accidentally) onto the branch stoops is not enough. In 2014, working with Mayor Bill de Blasio, and with support from Google and the Knight, Open Society and Robin Hood Foundations, we were able to let our patrons “check out” the internet. Yet we need help from more than libraries. Another, bolder approach, would be to create Wi-Fi for large geographic areas. I know there are technological hurdles to providing universal broadband. But the commitment I’m asking for isn’t particularly novel.
[Anthony W. Marx is the president of the New York Public Library.]
benton.org/headlines/too-poor-afford-internet | New York Times
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GOOGLE FIBER
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Ethan Baron]
Google's plan to at least temporarily suspend its fiber program and experiment with high-speed wireless internet delivery in Silicon Valley is the latest sign of how the search giant is playing a key role in jump-starting cheaper, faster service around the country. Google has done that, in part, by pushing competitors like AT&T and Comcast to move faster in boosting internet speed. While Google may be coming out ahead in this clash of titans -- faster and more widespread internet service means more clicks on Google ads -- the clear winner is the public, as the best and most affordable internet service is delivered to more and more customers across the U.S., analysts said. "It's a very big deal," said Blair Levin, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "From a public policy perspective, this is a great game. We're doing more on the internet and because of this we'll be able to do it better and faster and cheaper." And that plays right into Google's advertising-based business model.
benton.org/headlines/google-pushes-rivals-offer-high-speed-internet-service | San Jose Mercury News
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WOULD INTERNET TRANSITION BREAK LAW?
[SOURCE: Morning Consult, AUTHOR: Amir Nasr]
Twenty-five advocacy groups want the Commerce Department to hold off on plans to cede its control over the body that governs internet domain names. But the United States shows no signs of halting plans to end its leadership of the body by the end of next month. The groups argue that riders on spending bills in Congress prohibit the internet naming transition from moving forward. If the Obama Administration moves forward with its plan to relinquish control, the groups say Congress should sue. “We agree that internet governance should work from the bottom up, driven by the global community of private sector, civil society, and technical stakeholders,” said a letter, with signatures coming from groups like TechFreedom, Heritage Action for America and Taxpayers Protection Alliance. “Without robust safeguards, internet governance could fall under the sway of governments hostile to freedoms protected by the First Amendment.”
benton.org/headlines/groups-say-transitioning-internet-naming-agency-would-break-law | Morning Consult
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WIRELESS MUNI DREAM
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: Craig Settles]
[Commentary] Many are surprised by the news that Google is delaying some of its municipal fiber builds -- and speculation is building that the company is quietly upping its wireless game. Those who've watched the municipal broadband space since the muni Wi-Fi days, however, aren't likely to be surprised by this. The reason? In 2004, Philadelphia's dream of building a citywide public Wi-Fi network captivated the country and started a wave of frenzied press releases and mayoral proclamations, and a handful of network buildouts. But alas, all went for naught. Lately, however, a combination of need, cost and innovation is rekindling the dream. It seems our industry forgets that individuals, businesses and organizations don’t care very much if Internet access arrives wirelessly or by wired connection as long as it is fast, reliable, secure and affordable. Hybrid networks have a seat at the broadband table. Deal 'em in.
[Craig Settles assists communities with developing their broadband business and marketing plans, and help communities raise money for broadband projects]
benton.org/headlines/combination-need-cost-and-innovations-are-rekindling-muni-wireless-dream | Government Technology
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ENGAGEMENT

WOKE CHATBOTS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Caitlin Dewey]
Since early June, an account called @StayWokeBot has been doing its best to help keep others aware. The bot, a collaboration between activists DeRay Mckesson and Sam Sinyangwe and the tech cooperative Feel Train, is intended to protect and maintain morale among the black protest community. As of this writing, the bot does two things, though it may do more in the future: When a Twitter user initially follows @StayWokeBot, it auto-tweets them a singsong affirmation; when a follower tweets at the bot with his or her state, it responds with contact information for that state’s senators and a prompt to ask them to vote in favor of two gun-control measures. These sorts of repetitive, exhausting social media tasks — rallying the community, calling for action, facing down the angry @-replies of haters and critics — have long been the undertaking of activists themselves. But there’s a growing understanding that this work takes a lot of time, not to mention a profound emotional and psychological toll. And bots, of all things, could be the ones to absorb that kind of emotional labor. This idea, that bots could serve as a sort of proxy or extension of human activists, is a subtle shift from the activist and protest bots of the past.
benton.org/headlines/next-frontier-online-activism-woke-chatbots | Washington Post
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