November 2016

Libraries bolster opportunity — new briefs show how libraries support policy priorities of new administration

The American Library Association (ALA) released three briefs highlighting how libraries can advance specific policy priorities of the incoming Trump Administration in the areas of entrepreneurship, services to veterans and broadband adoption and use. Each paper features numerous snapshots of programs around the country illustrating libraries’ contributions to vibrant communities, as well as “takeaway” points for decision-makers:

One Small Business at a Time: Building Entrepreneurial Opportunity in America’s Communities
Snapshot: A Maryland ice cream entrepreneur used library resources to write an award-winning business plan that led to $50,000 in seed money and the launch of her shop.
Takeaway: Leverage libraries in new policy initiatives to grow entrepreneurship and small businesses.

Libraries Help and Honor Our Veterans: Employment, Education and Community Connection
Snapshot: A California veteran said the referral he received at the library led to him receiving medical benefits and back pay he was unaware he earned.
Takeaway: Libraries represent a proactive, cost-effective solution for extending outreach and services to veterans and their families.

America’s Libraries: Powering Broadband Access, Adoption and Use
Snapshot: Families in public housing with school-aged children receive digital literacy training and access to online homework resources and other digital services at libraries.
Takeaway: Libraries bring a wealth of resources and expertise to partnerships like ConnectHome with the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development

America's Libraries: Powering Broadband Adoption, Access, and Use

Libraries maximize trusted expert staff and technology infrastructure to boost Americans’ awareness of the benefi ts of broadband adoption and the digital skills needed to thrive online.

Libraries and librarians help with home broadband adoption. Look at HUD’s ConnectHome as a recent policy initiative. More generally, libraries and librarians bring a wealth of expertise and resources to advance federal, state and local broadband adoption and use initiatives.
Federal policymakers should promote investment and growth through initiatives that strengthen existing Wi-Fi spectrum designations, free up new frequencies for Wi-Fi, and establish transparent and predictable rules for Wi-Fi spectrum.
Federal and state policies must further the promise of E-rate modernization, as well as promote competition that enables local choice among broadband providers to meet growing digital demands.
Libraries need strong open Internet rules to serve our communities

Parkland, affordable housing, the Internet of Things-- it’s all someone’s ‘infrastructure’

Gone are the days when federal infrastructure spending was measured in highways, bridges and ports. As President-elect Donald Trump considers a massive new spending plan on public works, policy experts, lawmakers and companies are racing to make the case that infrastructure could include anything from fast Internet networks to electric vehicle charging stations, from power transmission lines to drinking water systems.

During a Bloomberg News conference on infrastructure in Washington this week, Mrinalini Ingram, vice president of smart communities at Verizon, had her own candidates for infrastructure spending: Verizon networking technology embedded in LED street lights and blue-light kiosks where pedestrians in danger can call police.

In two weeks, it will be easier for Uncle Sam to search your computer

Beginning December 1, the US surveillance state will expand—all without a congressional vote. Earlier in 2016, a new Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure was amended after three years of study by an unelected advisory committee. It was signed by the US Supreme Court and allows judges to sign warrants to allow the authorities to hack into computers outside a judge's jurisdiction. Rule 41 also grants judges the power to use one warrant to search multiple computers anywhere instead of requiring warrants for each computer.

Absent the rule, federal judges may only authorize electronic searches within their own judicial district. While this may seem bureaucratic or like a technicality, in practice the new rule will have a big impact on investigating cybercrime, according to the Justice Department. Evidence has been suppressed in some child pornography prosecutions because a Virginia magistrate allowed the FBI to seize and operate the Tor-hidden site Playpen for 13 days. Investigators also deployed malware that disrupted Tor's privacy protections and revealed more than 1,000 true IP addresses, which led to 137 prosecutions nationwide. In a few of those prosecutions, judges tossed cases because of the jurisdiction rule that Rule 41 now cures.

Sens Introduce Bill to Delay Expansion of FBI Hacking Powers

Five Sens introduced legislation to delay a controversial change to criminal search procedures that could allow the FBI to drastically increase its hacking operations. The legislation, proposed by Senate Judiciary Committee members Sens Chris Coons (D-DE), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Al Franken (D-MN), among others, would put a nearly nine-month pause on the new rule, which would allow a single judge to issue a warrant allowing police to hack into computers in multiple judicial districts rather than just the district in which that judge presides. Judges could also issue warrants to search a computer or device when the user has masked the device’s location under the new rule, an update to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Companion legislation was introduced in the House by Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) and committee member Rep Ted Poe (R-TX)

What Silicon Valley Wants From The Trump White House

For Silicon Valley and the tech sector, the ground has dramatically shifted in the last seven days. In the months leading up to the election, the sector overwhelmingly contributed more money to Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump. There were persistent rumors that some of the Valley’s brightest minds, including Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, were being considered for top positions in a Clinton Administration. And Clinton’s tech platform read so much like the industry’s wish list that some joked that it was a love letter to the Valley.

To find out what else Silicon Valley and the tech sector want from the new administration, we asked dozens of executives and entrepreneurs for their wish lists. Most of them included comprehensive immigration reform, STEM education, smarter regulations, and incentives to increase technology development and to spur innovation.

FCC Signs Robocall Agreement With Canadian Regulator

The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau and the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission announced a formal agreement, committing the two agencies to work together to combat unlawful robocalls. The Memorandum of Understanding represents the FCC’s commitment to working cooperatively with international regulators to combat robocalls and caller ID spoofing. Under the agreement, the two agencies agree to cooperate on enforcement matters related to unlawful robocalls and caller ID spoofing. These agencies have also committed to exchange information about investigations and complaints, share knowledge and expertise, provide information about legal theories and economic analysis, keep each other abreast of significant legal developments, and provide other appropriate assistance.

To increase diversity in tech, we need to rethink what 'tech' is

[Commentary] Tech jobs can be found across the United States in virtually every industry. New York, Denver, Austin and "Silicon Beach" in Los Angeles are just a few tech clusters enjoying rapid growth, with jobs spanning industries such as finance, energy, healthcare and marketing. Jobs once thought of as being outside of tech — installation and repair, human resources, project management, sales and advertising — increasingly heavily rely on tech-driven skills. That's why fostering greater tech diversity starts with rethinking what constitutes a tech job.

Taking a broader view enables a more comprehensive strategy that could foster awareness and diversity, capture various skill levels and include tech employers across all pertinent industries.

[Carew is an assistant policy analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and a doctoral candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She is also a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute.]

USTelecom, NTCA Ask FCC for More A-CAM Universal Service Funding

Two key telecommunication associations – USTelecom and NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association – have asked the Federal Communications Commission for additional Universal Service funding. The requests come in the wake of the revelation that more rate-of-return carriers than anticipated had opted for A-CAM Universal Service funding based on a cost model, creating a budget shortfall of $1.6 billion over a 10-year period. At the time this news came to light, the FCC asked for input from stakeholders about how to address the shortfall.

A-CAM is an acronym for “alternative Connect America model.” Carriers opting to receive Universal Service funding based on that model also must commit to building out broadband to customers that cannot get broadband today in conformance with strict targets and deadlines that are more aggressive than those for carriers not opting for A-CAM funding. In separate filings, USTelecom and NTCA asked the FCC to make up the $160 million annual funding shortfall in A-CAM Universal Service support for the next 10 years.

President-elect Trump’s FCC Expected to Relax Media Ownership Limits

The Federal Communications Commission is likely to change course and prioritize lifting newspaper and television station ownership restrictions when it comes under Republican control in 2017, agency watchers said. Industry analysts who track the FCC expect Republicans to relax rules once they assume control of the agency in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. That would include loosening restrictions on how many broadcast properties one company can own in any given market and lifting the ban on media companies owning newspapers and broadcast TV stations in the same market, a practice known as cross-ownership.

The FCC declined to ease those restrictions in its most recent review of media ownership rules in August. Another restriction — an ownership cap preventing one entity from owning enough stations to reach more than 39 percent of all U.S. households — is up to Congress to change. “A pro-business Republican administration led by Donald Trump is expected to push for more deregulation,” Geetha Ranganathan, a Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst, wrote in a Nov. 10 note. “For broadcasters, this may translate to relaxation of the 39-percent ownership cap and elimination of the broadcast-newspaper cross-ownership ban.”

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