December 2016

Verizon plans to offer Lifeline-supported broadband services where it offers FiOS service today, but the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) says the telecommunication company's efforts don’t go far enough. The NHMC says Verizon should offer Lifeline-enabled broadband throughout its entire footprint. “While this is a good first step, NHMC believes Verizon must better serve its low-income customers by expanding its Lifeline broadband service to its entire broadband footprint and not only where it offers FiOS,” said the NHMC.

In a filing Verizon issued earlier in Dec, the company said it plans to offer Lifeline-based broadband in FiOS areas starting in the middle of 2017 to address the broadband “affordability challenge.” “We hope that providing qualifying low-income Americans with the choice to use their Lifeline benefit for our eligible broadband Internet access services will help address this affordability challenge and will be another useful step towards closing the remaining digital divide,” Verizon said. However, the issue is that Verizon, along with other large telecommunication and cable companies AT&T and Charter, sought forbearance of Lifeline broadband Internet access service (BIAS) requirements.

In June, a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in a horrific spate of violence at a gay nightclub in Orlando (FL). Now, the families of some of the victims are suing Google, Twitter and Facebook, arguing that the tech companies had a role in radicalizing the shooter.

The families are accusing the companies of providing support to the Islamic State, the terrorist organization that appeared to inspire the attack. Although the gunman, Omar Mateen, did not appear to have official ties to the Islamic State, also referred to as ISIS, the victims' families say the group's indirect influence over the gunman is at least partly attributable to its “unfettered” ability to recruit fighters on social media. Through their data-driven business models, companies such as Google, Twitter and Facebook even “profit from ISIS postings through advertising revenue,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in a Michigan federal court Dec 19. The families of Tevin Eugene Crosby, Juan Guerrero and Javier Jorge-Reyes are demanding a trial and unspecified monetary compensation. “Without … Twitter, Facebook, and Google (YouTube), the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible,” the lawsuit reads.

Turn Inc, a Redwood City (CA) company that enables sellers to target digital advertisements to consumers, has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers by tracking them online and through their mobile applications, even after consumers took steps to opt out of such tracking. “Turn tracked millions of consumers online and through mobile apps even if they had taken steps to block or limit tracking,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC’s order will ensure the company honors consumers’ privacy choices.”

According to the FTC’s administrative complaint, Turn’s privacy policy represented that consumers could block targeted advertising by using their web browser’s settings to block or limit cookies. In fact, the complaint alleges that Turn used unique identifiers to track millions of Verizon Wireless customers, even after they blocked or deleted cookies from websites. In addition, the agency charged that Turn’s opt-out mechanism only applied to mobile browsers, and did not block tailored ads on mobile applications as the company claimed.